Selecting and providing items in a media consumption system

ABSTRACT

An item-providing system supplies items to a user device for consumption at the user device via communication infrastructure. The device may correspond to a book reader device or other type of device. In one illustrative case, the item-providing system includes reliable fulfillment functionality for ensuring that the user device receives items in a reliable manner. The item-providing system includes other provisions to facilitate selecting items in various contexts.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/939,357 filed on May 21, 2007. This provisional Application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Users have traditionally consumed media items (such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc.) in hard-copy form. For instance, a user may obtain a physical book from a bookstore or a library. The user may read the book by manually flipping through its pages in conventional fashion.

A user may now also receive and consume some media items in electronic form. In one case, a user may use a personal computer to connect to a network-accessible source of media items via a conventional telephone or cable modem. The user may download a document from this source. The user may consume the document by printing it out and reading it in conventional fashion. Alternatively, the user may read the document in electronic form, that is, by reading the book as presented on a computer monitor.

A provider of electronic media items faces various challenges. For instance, many users continue to prefer consuming media items in traditional hard-copy form, even though these media items are available in electronic form. The provider confronts the task of capturing the interest of such users, while providing a viable solution from a technical standpoint and a business-related standpoint.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an overview of an illustrative system for downloading items to a user device.

FIG. 2 shows one illustrative implementation of the system of FIG. 1 employing wireless communication.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative Item Providing System (IPS) and an illustrative user device for use in the system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a more detailed depiction of the illustrative user device of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative design of the user device of FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative user interface mechanism for interacting with the user device of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 shows a generic processing device which may be used to implement any aspect of the systems shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 8 is a signal diagram which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of the systems of FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 9 shows an overview of a content reception system for use in the IPS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative subscription module for use in the IPS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 11 shows illustrative index-generating functionality and annotation-handling functionality for use in the IPS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 12 is a signal diagram which depicts one illustrative way to receive and process eBooks and other pre-generated items using the content reception system of FIG. 9.

FIG. 13 is a signal diagram which depicts one illustrative way to receive and process subscription-related items using the content reception system of FIG. 9.

FIG. 14 is a signal diagram which depicts one illustrative way to receive and process personal items using the content reception system of FIG. 9.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative way to receive and process eBooks and other pre-generated items using the content reception system of FIG. 9.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative way to receive and process subscription-related items using the content reception system of FIG. 9.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative way to receive and process personal items using the content reception system of FIG. 9.

FIG. 18 shows an illustrative a to-do list server module for use in the IPS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of the to-do list server module of FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of managing the to-do list server module of FIG. 18.

FIG. 21 shows an illustrative to-do list processor for use in the user device of FIG. 3.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of the to-do list processing module of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23 shows an illustrative content delivery module for use in the IPS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of the content delivery module of FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner for processing items upon receipt by the user device.

FIG. 26 depicts a succession of versions, with each version differing from its preceding version in one or more respects.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative delta-forming operation performed by the content delivery module of FIG. 23 for forming a plurality of delta files.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative server-side incremental update operation performed by the content delivery module of FIG. 23, utilizing the delta files generated by the procedure of FIG. 27.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative device-side incremental update operation which complements the server-side procedure of FIG. 28.

FIG. 30 shows various content delivery management features which may be used in the systems of FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative manner of operation of reliable fulfillment processing functionality identified in FIG. 30.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative manner of operation of late notice functionality identified in FIG. 30.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative manner of operation of TelePhone Home (TPH) processing functionality identified in FIG. 30.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of subscription-initiation functionality of FIG. 30.

FIG. 35 is an illustrative home page produced by a home presentation module shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 36 is an illustrative menu provided in the context of the home page shown in FIG. 35.

FIG. 37 is an illustrative set-up page accessed via the home page shown in FIG. 35.

FIG. 38 shows an illustrative merchant store module for use in the IPS of FIG. 3.

FIG. 39 shows an illustrative home page produced by the merchant store module of FIG. 38.

FIG. 40 shows an illustrative browsing page produced by the merchant store module of FIG. 38.

FIG. 41 shows an illustrative item detail page produced by the merchant store module of FIG. 38.

FIG. 42 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative way of rescinding a purchase made with the merchant store module of FIG. 38.

FIG. 43 shows an illustrative server-side media library module and a device-side content manager module for use in the IPS and user device, respectively, of FIG. 3.

FIG. 44 is an illustrative content manager page produced by the content manager module shown in FIG. 43.

FIG. 45 shows an illustrative menu provided in the context of the content manager page shown in FIG. 44.

FIG. 46 shows another illustrative menu provided in the context of the content manager page shown in FIG. 44.

FIG. 47 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative way of synchronizing information between the IPS and the user device of FIG. 3.

FIG. 48 is an illustrative item-display page produced by the reader module shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 49 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative way of dynamically populating a link in a page.

FIG. 50 shows an annotation-related menu presented in the context of the item-display page of FIG. 48.

FIG. 51 is an illustrative progress bar provided in the context of the item-display page shown in FIG. 48.

FIG. 52 shows audio delivery, management, and playback functionality in a user device as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 53 is a modified depiction of the system of FIG. 2, emphasizing the use of an illustrative browsing proxy module.

FIG. 54 is a flowchart which depicts an illustrative manner of operation of the browsing proxy module of FIG. 53.

FIG. 55 is an illustrative home page produced by a browser module shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 56 shows an illustrative user interface panel for use in inputting an address using the browser module of FIG. 4.

FIG. 57 is a modified depiction of the system of FIG. 2, emphasizing various administrative functions performed by the system.

FIG. 58 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of testing functionality of FIG. 57, in which the IPS periodically sends test probes to one or more representative user devices.

FIG. 59 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of upgrade-related functionality of FIG. 57, corresponding to a manual mode of upgrading.

FIG. 60 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of the upgrade-related functionality of FIG. 57, corresponding to an automated mode of upgrading.

FIG. 61 shows an illustrative format used to forward upgrades to the user device of FIG. 3.

FIG. 62 is a modified depiction of the system of FIG. 2, emphasizing the use of illustrative provisioning functionality.

FIG. 63 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of associating item purchases to a virtual account after the purchase of a new device, but before the purchasing-user is associated with a specific user device.

FIG. 64 shows an illustrative arrangement including test equipment and a representative device under test (DUT).

FIG. 65 is a flowchart which depicts one illustrative manner of operation of the arrangement of FIG. 64.

The same numbers are used throughout the disclosure and figures to reference like components and features. Series 100 numbers refer to features originally found in FIG. 1, series 200 numbers refer to features originally found in FIG. 2, series 300 numbers refer to features originally found in FIG. 3, and so on.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to one illustrative implementation, this disclosure sets forth functionality for downloading items to a user device. The functionality may be manifested in various systems, modules, computer readable media, data structures, methods, and other forms.

The “item” referenced above may correspond to any type of content. In one case, the item corresponds to a digital media item. The media item may include, without limitation, text content, image content, audio content, video content, hypertext protocol content, and so on, or any combination of these kinds of content. In addition, or alternatively, the item may include instruction-bearing content, such as machine-readable program code, markup language content, script content, and so forth. For instance, an item may correspond to a software upgrade or the like.

More specifically, in one case, the term “item” may refer to a specific unit of merchandisable content, such as a book (e.g., an “eBook”), an issue of a magazine, and so on. Alternatively, an item may refer to smaller parts of a merchandisable unit, such as a chapter of a book or a song in an album. Alternatively, an item may refer to a larger compilation of component items which are related in any manner. For instance, an item may refer to multiple issues of a magazine in a particular year.

The term “entry” corresponds to information which refers to an item. For example, a list of entries may include reference information which identifies respective media items.

Certain drawings illustrate the features by showing various logic, modules, components, functionality, and so forth. The terms “logic,” “module,” “component,” “functionality” and the like generally represent hardware, software, firmware, or any combination of these elements, or yet some other kind of implementation. For instance, in the case of a software implementation, the terms “logic,” “module,” “component,” or “functionality” may represent instruction-bearing content to perform specified tasks when executed on a processing unit or units (e.g., a CPU or CPUs). The instruction-bearing content may be stored in one or more machine-readable media.

The term “machine-readable media” or the like refers to any kind of media for retaining information in any form, including various kinds of storage devices (magnetic, optical, static, etc.). The term “machine-readable media” also encompasses transitory forms of representing information, including various hardwired and/or wireless links for transmitting the information from one point to another.

Other figures illustrate features in signal diagram form and/or flowchart form. In this mode of explanation, certain operations are described as constituting distinct tasks performed in a certain order. Such implementations are illustrative and non-limiting. Separate operations described in these figures may be grouped together and performed in a single operation, while certain single operations may be performed in multiple parts. Certain operations may be performed in an order different from the order illustrated in the figures. Certain operations may be performed by different agents than is identified in the figures. The operations shown in the figures may be implemented by software, firmware, hardware, manual processing, or other form, or by any combination of these forms.

In general, the various features described in the implementations may be regarded as optional features, meaning that these features may be omitted or replaced with other features. Further, the various implementations described herein may be supplemented by adding additional features.

This disclosure includes the following main sections.

-   -   Section A provides an overview of the system and its manner of         operation.     -   Section B provides additional information regarding various         components which may be used in the system of Section A.     -   Section C describes various administrative functions the system         may perform.     -   Section D describes various provisioning functions the system         may perform.

A. Overview of System and Manner of Operation

A.1. Illustrative Overview of System

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative system 100 for downloading items from an Item Providing System (IPS) 102 to a user device 104. At the device 104, the user may consume the media items in electronic form, as opposed to traditional hard-copy form. Although not shown, the user device 104 represents one of a potentially great number of user devices.

As explained above, the term “item” has broad connotation. The following list, which is non-exhaustive, identifies representative types of items:

-   -   An item may correspond to an eBook item. An eBook item, in turn,         may refer to a book in electronic form or to one or more         portions of a book (such as a chapter of a book) or to a         compilation of multiple books (such as a book series), and so         on. An eBook is an example of a general class of items referred         to herein as pre-generated items. The term pre-generated item         refers to content typically (although not necessarily) provided         to a user in response to the user's on-demand request for the         content after it has been received and stored by the IPS 102.     -   An item of content may also correspond to a subscription-related         item. A subscription-related item refers to any item the user         receives based on a schedule or based on some other type of         pre-established arrangement. Without limitation, representative         forms of subscription-related items include magazines, journals,         newspapers, newsletters, and so on. Other forms of         subscription-related items include electronic feeds of various         types, such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, and so on.         In contrast to a pre-generated item, a subscription-related item         is typically provided to a user in response to the receipt of         the item by the IPS 102, rather than the user's on-demand         request for a pre-generated item.     -   An item may also correspond to a personal document item, or         simply “personal item.” A personal item refers to a document the         user forwards in advance to the IPS 102, whereupon the IPS 102         converts the item to a device-readable format.     -   An item may also correspond to audio content, such as a piece of         music, a collection of music, an audio book, and so on.     -   An item may also correspond to a bundle of information generated         in response to a query made by the user.     -   An item may also correspond to instruction-bearing content, such         as a software update.     -   An item may also correspond to advertising material downloaded         to the user device by any entity or combination of entities.         Various rules may be applied to govern the downloading of this         type of item.     -   An item may also correspond to a sample of a more complete         version of the item. In one case, a sample-type item may embed         one or more links to allow the user to acquire its full-version         counterpart, or another part (e.g., chapter) of the item. In         another case, a publisher or author may release an eBook or         other item in a series of installments. Each installment may be         regarded as an item.     -   An item may correspond to a draft of an item, meaning an item in         a state that its author does not regard as necessarily final.

The term “item” may encompass yet other forms of content; the above types of items are representative.

The item-providing system (IPS) 102 corresponds to any functionality or combination of functionality for forwarding items to the user device 104. In one case, the IPS 102 may correspond to network-accessible server-based functionality, various data stores, and/or other data processing equipment. The IPS 102 may be implemented by a single collection of functionality provided at a single physical site. Alternatively, the IPS 102 may be implemented by multiple collections of functionality, optionally provided at plural physical sites. The IPS 102 may be administered by a single entity or plural entities.

In one case, the IPS 102 corresponds to an entity which provides items to users upon the users' purchase of the items. In this role, the IPS 102 may essentially act as a bookseller or the like. In one particular commercial environment, the IPS 102 may also offer services which allow users to purchase hard-copy books for physical delivery to the users; in this context, the IPS 102 may allow users to download electronic items to respective user devices as part of its entire suite of services. In other cases, the IPS 102 corresponds to an entity which provides items to users on a non-fee basis or on the basis of some other type of alternative compensation arrangement. Thus, the term a “provider” of items should be construed broadly to encompass educational institutions, governmental organizations, libraries, non-profit organizations, and so on, or some cooperative combination of any two or more entities.

The user device 104 corresponds to any type of electronic processing device 104 for receiving items from the IPS 102. In one implementation, the user device 104 is readily portable, meaning the user may freely carry the user device 104 from one location to another. In one particular case, the user device is designed as a book reader device, also known as an eBook reader device. In this case, the user device 104 functions as the electronic counterpart of a paper-based book. The user may hold the user device 104 in a manner similar to a physical book, electronically turn the pages of the book, and so on. Without limitation, FIG. 1 illustrates a particular type of eBook reader device. Additional details regarding this particular type of reader device are provided below. Alternatively, the user device 104 may correspond to any other type of portable device, such as a portable music player, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a game module, a laptop computer, and so on, and/or any combination of these types of devices. Alternatively, or in addition, the user device 104 may correspond to a device which is not readily portable, such as a personal computer, a set-top box associated with a television, a gaming console, and so on.

A communication infrastructure 106 bi-directionally couples the IPS 102 to the user device 104. Namely, the IPS 102 downloads items, upgrades, and/or other information to the user device 104 via the communication infrastructure 106. The IPS 102 receives various instructions and other data from the user device 104 via the communication infrastructure 106.

The communication infrastructure 106 may include any combination of communication functionality, including any combination of hardwired links and/or wireless links, etc. For instance, FIG. 2 (to be discussed below in turn) shows one implementation of the communication infrastructure 106 which includes a combination of a wide area network (WAN) and wireless infrastructure. By virtue of the wireless component of the communication infrastructure 106, the user may use the user device 104 to purchase items and consume items without being tethered to the IPS 102 via hardwired links. Thus, for instance, a user may purchase and consume an eBook using the device while riding in a car as a passenger, while hiking in a park, while boating on a lake, and so forth.

FIG. 1 shows four exchanges which describe, in very high-level form, part of a procedure for downloading items to the user. In a first message 108, the IPS 102 may send a notification message to the user device 104. The notification message 108 instructs the user device 104 to download one or more items from the IPS 102 and/or perform other actions. In a second message 110, the user device 104 requests the IPS 102 to supply a list which identifies one or more items to be downloaded (and/or other actions to be performed, such as, in one case, sending information back to the IPS 102). The user device 104 receives the list from the IPS 102 in response to the second message 110 (note FIG. 1 does not specifically identify the transmission of the list from the IPS 102 to the user device 104). If the instructions identify items to be downloaded, in a third message 112, the user device 104 sends a request to the IPS 102, asking the IPS 102 to download the items identified in the list. In a fourth message 114, the IPS 102 downloads the requested items to the user device 104. In effect, the user device 104 retrieves the items using a pull approach, but the pull approach is initiated by a push operation (by virtue of the IPS 102 “pushing” a notification message 108 to the user device 104).

In one case, the notification message 108 may correspond to a certain type of notification message used to commence voice mode interaction, such as a telephone ring. In this case, the notification message 108 is also referred to as a Terrestrial Phone Home or a TelePhone Home (TPH) signal. (It will be appreciated that the identifiers Terrestrial Phone Home, TelePhone Home, TPH, etc. are arbitrary labels of convenience to facilitate explanation herein.) The other messages may take the form of data mode messages. In one case, the user device 104 may be configured to receive and act on the TPH signal without actually formally answering the TPH signal. In other words, the user device 104 receives the TPH signal and does not make a voice connection, but rather initiates steps to download items from the IPS 102. In some environments, a wireless provider system may charge a fee when a call is answered, but not if a user device is called and does not answer. Thus, the strategy of ringing the user device 104 without an answer may allow the IPS 102 to communicate instructions to the user device 104 without incurring a fee for the user device 104 or the IPS 102.

A.2. Illustrative Wireless Implementation of the System

FIG. 2 shows a system 200 which represents one illustrative implementation of the general system 100 of FIG. 1. By way of overview, the system 200 includes the components identified above, namely IPS 102 coupled to a user device 104 via communication infrastructure 106.

The communication infrastructure 106 includes multiple components. A first component is a wireless provider system 202. The wireless provider system 202 corresponds to any infrastructure for providing a wireless exchange 204 with the user device 104. In one case, the wireless provider system 202 is implemented using various data processing equipment, communication towers, and so forth (not shown). Alternatively, or in addition, the wireless provider system 202 may rely on satellite technology to exchange information with the user device 104. The wireless provider system 202 may use any form of electromagnetic energy to transfer signals, such as, without limitation, radio-wave signals. The wireless provider system 202 may use any communication technology to transfer signals, such as, without limitation, spread spectrum technology, implemented, for instance, using the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) protocol. The wireless provider system 202 may be administered by a single entity or by a cooperative combination of multiple entities.

The communication infrastructure 106 also includes a communication-enabling system 206. One purpose of the communication-enabling system 206 is to serve as an intermediary in passing information between the IPS 102 and the wireless provider system 202. The communication-enabling system 210 may be implemented in any manner, such as, without limitation, by one or more server-type computers, data stores, and/or other data processing equipment. The communication enabling system may expose one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) 208. The IPS 102 may call on the APIs 208 to perform various respective functions.

The communication-enabling system 206 communicates with the wireless provider system 202 via a dedicated channel 210, also referred to as a dedicated communication pipe or private pipe. The channel 210 is dedicated in the sense it is exclusively used to the transfer information between the communication-enabling system 206 and the wireless provider system 202. In contrast, the communication enabling system 206 communicates with the IPS 102 via a non-dedicated communication mechanism, such as a public Wide Area Network (WAN) 212. For example, the WAN 212 may represent the Internet.

The communication enabling system 206 may serve as an adaptor. For instance, assume that, in one particular implementation, the IPS 102 acts as a data center which is set up to receive information via a wide area public network. Assume further the wireless provider system 202 is set up to interact with clients via a private pipe. The communication-enabling system 206 interacts with the IPS 102 via the wide area network 212 and the wireless provider system 202 via the private pipe 210, thus accommodating the processing preferences of the IPS 102 and the wireless provider system 202. By virtue of this intermediary role, the communication-enabling system 206 may be referred to as a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE), while the IPS 102 may be referred to as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).

In terms of a business paradigm, the IPS 102 may interact with the wireless provider system 202 using a wholesale account. On this basis, the IPS 102 may pay the wireless provider system 202 a fee based on the aggregate use of the wireless provider system 202 by all of the user devices. The IPS 102 may recoup these costs through fees charged to the end-users. In this illustrative business scenario, the wireless provider system 202 does not send bills directly to the users who operate the user devices.

More specifically, the wireless provider system 102 handles an entire amount of communication traffic 214 associated with all uses of its services. A subset of the entire amount of communication traffic 214 represents IPS-related communication traffic 216, also referred to as merchant-related communication traffic. The IPS-related traffic 216 represents the exchange of information occurring between the IPS 102 and all of the user devices which interact with the IPS 102. The wireless provider system 202 discriminates the IPS-related traffic 216 from other traffic based on unique key information associated with the IPS-related traffic 216. The wireless provider system 202 may prepare a bill based on the total amount of IPS-related traffic 216. As noted above, the wireless provider system 202 may seek payment for its services from the IPS 102, not the individual users of the devices.

The examples set forth above are representative; other strategies may be used to exchange information between the IPS 102 and the user device 104. In alternative cases, for instance, the system 200 may be configured such that the wireless provider system 202 does indeed recoup costs directly from individual users. Or the system 200 may be configured such that the wireless provider system 202 submits bills to either the IPS 102 (in aggregate) or to the individual users, at the option of the individual respective users.

The users may access the IPS 102 through alternative communication routes which bypass the use the wireless provider system 202. For instance, as indicated by alternative access path 218, a user may use a personal computer or the like to access the IPS 102 via the wide area network 212, circumventing the wireless provider system 202 and the communication-enabling system 206. The user may download items through this route in conventional fashion. The user may then transfer the items from the personal computer to the user device 104, e.g., via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) transfer mechanism, through the manual transfer of a portable memory device, and so on. This mode of transfer may be particularly appropriate for large files, such as audio books and the like. Transferring such a large amount of data in wireless fashion may have a relatively high cost. However, the system 200 may also be configured to transfer large files (such as audio files) via the wireless exchange 204.

The system 200 of FIG. 2 also provides various security-related features. According to one feature, the system 200 applies multiple layers of authentication. Namely, the wireless provider system 202 includes authentication functionality A₁ 220 to perform a first level of authentication. The communication-enabling system 206 provides authentication functionality A₂ 222 to perform a second level of authentication. The IPS 102 provides authentication functionality A₃ 224 to perform a third layer of authentication. Each layer of authentication performs checking to ensure the user device currently attempting to interact with the IPS 102 is duly authorized to access the IPS 102. The distributed nature of the authentication helps ensure someone who has obtained a user device through improper means cannot gain access to the services provided by the IPS 102.

According to another security-related feature, the system 200 may provide various constraints which restrict the manner in which a user may use the device 104. For example, the communication-enabling system 206 may be configured such that it will allow user devices to access only one or more predetermined addresses associated with the IPS 102. This means that, in one case, a user cannot use the user device 104 to directly access a network-accessible site without being first routed through the IPS 102. This prevents the user from using the user device 104 as an unrestricted broadband interface to network-accessible resources.

More specifically, the IPS 102 may include a web browsing proxy (to be discussed below in greater detail). When the user attempts to access a network-accessible resource 226, the communication enabling system 206 first directs the user to the browsing proxy module. The browsing proxy module may then either deny the request or accept the request by allowing the user to access the network-accessible resource 226. The browsing proxy module may apply various rules (to be discussed) in determining whether to deny or accept the request to access the network-accessible resource 226. In this manner, the communication-enabling system 206 and the IPS 102 do not permit the user to directly access the network accessible resources.

In another case, the system 200 may allow the user to directly interact with network-accessible resources, that is, without being routed through the IPS 102.

A.3. Illustrative Item-Providing System (IPS) and User Device

FIG. 3 shows a system 300 including a more detailed depiction of the IPS 102 and the user device 104 (which were introduced in FIGS. 1 and 2). Although not shown, the system 300 shown in FIG. 3 may use the wireless features shown in FIG. 2. In another implementation, the system 300 may use some other communication infrastructure than is shown in FIG. 2, which may optionally omit the use of wireless communication.

Addressing the details of the IPS 102 first, this system 102 performs various functions. Different modules are associated with these different functions. One module is a content reception system 302. The content reception system 302 receives content from one or more sources of content 304. The sources 304 may represent any type of provider of content, such as eBook publishers, newspaper publishers, other publishers of periodicals, various feed sources, music sources, and so on.

The sources 304 may be administered by a single entity or may be administered by separate respective entities. Further, the entity administering the IPS 102 may correspond to a same entity which administers one or more of the sources 304. Alternatively, or in addition, the entity administering the IPS 102 may interact with one or more different entities administering one or more respective sources 304. In the latter case, the entity administering the IPS 102 may enter into an agreement with the source entities to receive content from these source entities.

In the above example, the entities associated with the sources 304 may correspond to commercial organizations or other types of organizations. In another case, one or more of the sources may correspond to individual users, such as the creators of the items. For example, a user may directly provide items to the IPS 102. Alternatively, or in addition, a user may supply content to a community repository of items, and the IPS 102 may receive content from this repository, and so on.

The content creation system 302 may obtain the content through various mechanisms. In one case, the content reception system 302 obtains the content via one or more networks 306. The networks 306 may represent a WAN, such as the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN), or some combination thereof. The content reception system 302 may receive the information in various forms using any protocol or combination of protocols. For instance, the content reception system 302 may receive the information by making a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request, by making a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) request, by receiving a feed (e.g., an RSS feed), and so forth. In another case, the IPS 102 may obtain content via a peer-to-peer (P2P) network of sources 304. More generally, the content reception system 302 may proactively request the content in and on-demand manner (based on a pull method of information transfer). Or the content reception system 302 may receive the content in response to independent transfer operations initiated and performed by the sources 304 (based on a push method of information transfer). Alternatively, the content reception system 302 may use a combination of pull and push transfer mechanisms to receive the content.

The content reception system 302 may receive content in the form of items. Without limitation, the items may include eBooks, audio books, music, magazine issues, journal issues, newspaper editions, various feeds, and so forth. In one case, the content reception system 302 may receive some items expressed in a format not readable by the user device 104 (where the user device may optionally be configured to receive, process, and present content expressed in one or more predefined formats). To address this situation, the content reception system 302 may convert the items from their original format into a device-readable format (such as, without limitation, the .mobi format).

The content reception system 302 stores the items received (and optionally converts them to another format) in a content store 308. The content store 308 includes one or more storage systems for retaining items in electronic form, located at a single site or distributed over plural sites, administered by one or more entities.

Section B (below) provides additional information regarding the operation of the content reception system 302. By way of preview, the content reception system 302 includes separate modules for handling pre-generated items (such as eBooks), subscription-related items (such as newspapers), and personal items (such as user-supplied word-processing documents, etc.).

The IPS 102 also includes a subscription module 310. The subscription module 310 manages users' subscriptions to subscription-related items. Generally, a subscription entitles a user to receive one or more subscription-related items (which are yet to be received and stored by the content reception system 302) based on any type of consideration or combination of considerations. Without limitation, subscription-related item types include magazines, journals, newsletters, newspapers, various feeds, and so forth. Users may arrange to receive subscription-related items by purchasing such subscriptions, or, more generally, by registering to receive such subscriptions (which, in some cases, may not involve the payment of a fee). Alternatively, or in addition, the IPS 102 may automatically register users to receive subscription-related items without the involvement of the users (and possibly without the approval of the users). The latter scenario may be appropriate in the case in which the IPS 102 (or some other entity) registers a user to receive unsolicited advertisements, newsletters, and so on. The system 300 may allow the user to opt out of receiving such unsolicited information.

The IPS 102 may consult the subscription module 310 to determine which user devices should receive a newly-received subscription-related item. For instance, upon receiving an electronic issue of the magazine Forbes, the IPS 102 consults the subscription module 310 to determine the users who have paid to receive this magazine. The IPS 102 then sends the issue to the appropriate user devices.

An item delivery system 312 represents the functionality which actually performs the transfer of content to the user device 104. In one illustrative representation, the item-delivery system 312 includes two components: a to-do list server module 314; and a content delivery module 316. The to-do list server module 314 generally provides instructions for the user device 104. The instructions direct the user device 104 to retrieve items and perform other operations. The content delivery module 316 allows the user device 104 to obtain the items identified in the instructions received from the to-do list server module 314.

More specifically, in a first phase of information retrieval, the to-do list server module 314 sends a notification message to the user device 104. As described above, in one illustrative implementation, the to-do list server module 314 may send the notification message as a telephone ring. The user device 104 responds to the notification message by waking up (if “asleep”), which may involve switching from a first power state to a second power state (where the second power state consumes more power than the first power state). The user device 104 may optionally respond to the notification message without formally answering the signal, which avoids or reduces a fee associated with the wireless message. The user device 104 then contacts the to-do list server module 314 to request instructions from the to-do list server module 314. More specifically, for each user device, the to-do list server module 314 maintains a list of entries, also referred to herein as a “to-do queue.” An entry provides an instruction for a user device to perform an action. As will be described in greater detail below, there are different instructions that a device may be directed to perform, wherein a collection of instructions defines an IPS-device interaction protocol. One such action (e.g., associated with a GET instruction of the protocol) directs the user device 104 to retrieve an item from a specified location, e.g., by specifying an appropriate network address (e.g., a URL) and appropriate arguments. In the first phase, the user device 104 generally retrieves n such entries, wherein n is an integer. In one scenario, the number n may be a subset of a total number of items in the to-do queue associated with the user device 104. In a second phase of the downloading procedure, the user device 104 contacts the content delivery module 316 to retrieve one or more items identified in the GET-related entries.

In general, after receiving the notification message (which may be implemented as a telephone ring), the item delivery system 312 interacts with the user device 104 in a data mode, e.g., using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or some other protocol or combination of protocols. The downloading procedure is described in additional detail below (for instance, in the context of the explanation of FIG. 8).

The IPS 102 also includes a merchant store module 318. The merchant store module 318 provides access to an item catalog 320, which, in turn, provides information regarding a plurality of items (such as eBooks, audio books, subscription-related items, and so on). As will be described in greater detail below, the merchant store module 318 includes functionality allowing a user to search and browse though the item catalog 320. The merchant store module 318 may also include functionality allowing a user to purchase items (or, more generally, acquire items based on any terms). In one case, a user may interact with the merchant store module 318 via the user device 104 using wireless communication. Alternatively, or in addition, the user may interact with the merchant store module 318 via another type of device 322, such as a personal computer, optionally via wired links. In either case, when the user purchases or otherwise acquires an item via the merchant store module 318, the IPS 102 may invoke the item delivery system 312 to deliver the item to the user.

The IPS 102 also includes a personal media library module 324. The personal media library module 324 stores, for each user, a list of the user's prior purchases. More specifically, in one case, the personal media library module 324 provides metadata information regarding eBook items and other on-demand selections (e.g., “a la carte” selections, such as subscription issues, etc.) which a user already owns. The personal media library module 324 also provides links to the items in the content store 308. As will be described in greater detail below, to download an eBook item (or the like) which the user has already purchased, the user device 104 contacts the content delivery module 316. The content delivery module 316 interacts with permission information and linking information in the personal media library module 324 in order to download the item to the user. In one use scenario, the user device 104 may access the content delivery module 316 in this manner to initiate downloading of an item which has been previously purchased by the user but has been deleted by the user device 104 for any reason.

The IPS 102 also includes a browsing proxy module 326. The browsing proxy module 326 allows the user to access one or more network-accessible resources 328 via a browser module (to be discussed below) resident on the user device 104. As explained in the context of FIG. 2, when the user requests access to a particular network-accessible resource, the system 300 first directs the user to the browsing proxy module 326. The browsing proxy module 326 may then apply various environment-specific business rules to determine whether or not to grant such access, and if granted, under what terms to grant such access. Through this mechanism, in one implementation, the user is precluded from directly accessing the network-accessible resources 328 using the user device 104.

The IPS 102 also includes various security-related features, such as one or more authorization stores 330. The authorization stores 330 provide information which enables various components of the IPS 102 to determine whether to allow the user to perform various functions, such as access the merchant store module 318, download items, change settings, and so on.

The above-enumerated list of modules is representative and is not exhaustive of the types of functions performed by the IPS 102. As indicated by the label “Other Server-Side Functionality,” the IPS 102 may include additional functions, many of which are described below.

Now turning to the device-side features of the system 300, the user device 104 includes a device to-do list processing module 334. The purpose of the device to-do list processing module 334 is to interact with the item delivery system 312 to download items from the item delivery system 312. Namely, in a first phase of the downloading procedure, the device to-do list processing module 334 first receives a notification message from the to-do list server module 314, which prompts it to wake up (if “asleep”) and contact the to-do list server module 314 to retrieve a set of n entries. Each entry includes an instruction which directs the device to-do list processing module 334 to perform an action. In a second phase, for a GET-type entry, the device to-do list processing module 334 contacts the content delivery module 316 to request and retrieve an item identified by the GET-type entry. As will be described in greater detail below, the user device 104 signals a successful completion of the download process or a failure in the download process.

Upon downloading an item, the user device 104 stores the item in a device-side memory 336, which in one example is a flash-type memory and may be any other type of memory in other examples. Although not shown, the user device 104 may also exchange information with any other source of content 338. In one illustrative case, the other source of content 338 may represent a personal computer or other data processing device. Such other source of content 338 may transfer an item to the user device 104 via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection and/or any other type(s) of connection(s). In this scenario, the other source of content 338, in turn, may receive the item from the IPS 102 (or other source) via hardwired connection (e.g., non-wireless connection). For example, to receive an audio book, the user may use a personal computer to non-wirelessly download the audio book from a network-accessible source of such content. The user may then transfer the audio book to the user device 104 via USB connection. In another illustrative case, the other source of content 338 may represent a portable memory module of any type, such as a flash-type memory module, a magnetic memory module, an optical memory module, and so on.

The user device 104 also includes a reader module 340. The illustrative purpose of the reader module 340 is to present media items for consumption by the user using the user device 104. For example, the reader module 340 may be used to display an eBook to the user to provide a user experience which simulates the reading of a paper-based physical book.

The user device 104 also includes a content manager module 342. The purpose of the content manager module 342 is to allow the user to manage items available for consumption using the user device 104. For example, the content manager module 342 allows the user to view a list of items available for consumption. The content manager module 342 also identifies the sources of respective items: one such source corresponds to the device memory 336; another source corresponds to an attached portable memory (e.g., represented by the other source 338); another source corresponds to items identified in the personal media library module 324 (as may be revealed, in turn, by device-side metadata provided by the IPS 102); another source corresponds to subscription-related items identified by the subscription module 310, and so on. The content manager module 342 allows the user to filter and sort the items in various ways. For example, the user may selectively view items which originate from the device store 336.

The user device 104 also includes a store interaction module 344. The store interaction module 344 allows the user device 104 to interact with the merchant store module 318. The user may engage the store interaction module 344 to search and browse through items, to purchase items, to read and author customer reviews, and so on. As described above, the user may also use a personal computer or the like to interact with the merchant store module 318 via hardwired links.

The above-enumerated list of modules is representative and is not exhaustive of the types of functions performed by the user device 104. As indicated by the label “Other Device-Side Functionality,” the user device 104 may include additional functions, many of which are described below. In fact, FIG. 4 shows additional device-side functionality. For completeness, FIG. 4 also identifies the various modules described above, including the device to-do list processing module 334, the device memory 336, the reader module 340, the content manager module 342, and the store interaction module 344. These features perform the functions described above.

FIG. 4 shows the user device 104 also includes a browser module 402. The browsing module 402 allows the user device 104 to access one or more network-accessible resources 328 via the browsing proxy module 326 provided by the IPS 102. As explained above, the browsing proxy module 326 permits or denies access to the network-accessible resources 328 based on a set of environment-specific rules. If permitted access, the device-side browser module 402 includes functionality for interpreting the content received from a network-accessible source and presenting such content to the user.

The user device 104 may also include searching and indexing functionality 404. The indexing aspect of this functionality 404 provides a mechanism for indexing an item received from the IPS 102 and/or for interacting with an index generated and supplied by the IPS 102 or by some other source. An index for a particular item (such as an eBook or newspaper edition) identifies the component parts (e.g., words) in the item, linking the component parts to their respective locations in the item. The searching aspect of the functionality 404 provides a mechanism for searching for identified components (e.g., words, phrases, etc.) in an item, and for performing other search-related functions. The searching aspect relies on the indexing aspect.

The user device 104 also may include an annotation module 406. The annotation module 406 allows a user to create annotations to supplement a particular item. For instance, the user may create one type of annotation to mark a page, thus acting in the manner of a bookmark. The user may create another type of annotation highlighting a portion of the item, such as a word, phrase, sentence, etc. in an eBook. The user may create another type of annotation by adding one or more notes to an item. Generally, the annotation module 406 may store annotation information which identifies the types of annotations created, the locations within the item associated with the annotations, the content of the annotations (e.g., in the case of note-type annotations), and so on.

More specifically, the user device 104 may locally store the annotations. Further, the IPS 102 may optionally store the annotations in a backup store; this allows the user to download the annotations in the event they are deleted from a device-side store. Wherever stored, the user device 104 may restore the annotations upon presentation of the corresponding item which is the “target” or subject of the annotations. For example, when a user accesses an eBook which has been annotated on one or more prior occasions, the annotation module 406 may access the annotation information and display the user's annotations within the text. The annotation module 406 may also perform a related function allowing a user to identify and extract (e.g., “clip”) one or more portions of an item and store such portions in a clipping file. In one illustrative case, clippings are stored as unencrypted text files. In one case, the annotations can be associated with a particular entity, such as a user. Alternatively, or in addition, the annotations can be associated with a copy of the annotated item, such as an eBook.

The user device 104 also includes a home presentation module 408. The home presentation module 408 provides a home page when the user first turns on the user device and/or at other junctures. The home page may act as a general portal allowing a user to access media items and various features provided by the user device 104. In one illustrative case, the home page may present a summary of some (or all) of the items available for consumption using the user device 104.

The user device 104 also includes an audio play module 410. The audio player module 410 provides an interface which allows the user to play back and interact with audio items, such as music, audio books and the like.

The above-described features of the user device 104 pertains to applications with which the user may interact or which otherwise play a high-level role in the user's interaction with the user device 104. The user device 104 may include a number of other features to perform various lower-level tasks, possibly as background-type operations.

Power management functionality 412 performs one such background-type operation. More specifically, the power management functionality 412 corresponds to a collection of hardware and/or software features operating to manage the power consumed by the user device 104. The power management functionality 412 generally operates to reduce the power consumed by the device 104. The power management functionality 412 achieves this goal by selectively powering down features not actively being used (or for which there is an assumption these features are not actively being used). The power management functionality 412 achieves particularly noteworthy power savings by powering down features which make large power demands, such as one or more features associated with wireless communication.

The user device 104 also includes performance Monitoring and Testing (MT) functionality 414. The MT functionality 414 maintains a performance log 416 identifying the behavior of the device 104. The IPS 102 and/or other entities may access the performance log 416, along with other information gleaned from the communication infrastructure 106, to help diagnose anomalies in the operation of the user device 104 and the system 300 as a whole. The MT functionality 414 may also interact with testing functionality provided by the IPS 102 and/or other entities. For example, the MT functionality 414 may respond to test probes generated by the IPS 102, in a manner described in further detail below in Section C.

The user device 104 also includes an upgrade-related functionality 418. The upgrade-related functionality 418 allows the user device 104 to receive and integrate instruction-bearing update items (such as software updates). In one case, the upgrade-related functionality 418 may automatically receive instruction-bearing items provided by the IPS 102 (and/or by other entities). An administrator at the IPS 102 may manually initiate the upgrade procedure by which an instruction-bearing update item is forwarded to the user device 104. Or an automated IPS-side routine may initiate the upgrade procedure. In any event, the user device may receive the instruction-bearing update item without the involvement of the user or with minimal involvement from the user. In this sense, the upgrade procedure may be viewed as “transparent.” In another case, the upgrade-related functionality 418 may be operated by the user to manually access a source of instruction-bearing items (such as a prescribed website or the like) and download an item from this source.

In one implementation, the upgrade-related functionality 418 may forward version information to the IPS 102. The version information identifies the version of the instruction-bearing content being used by the user device 104. The IPS 102 may determine whether this version information is out-of-date (by reference to current version information). If out-of-date, the IPS 102 may react appropriately, e.g., by downloading an instruction-bearing item to the user device 104. Section C provides additional information regarding the operations performed by the upgrade-related functionality 418.

To repeat, the above-enumerated list of modules is representative and is not exhaustive of the types of functions performed by the user device 104. As indicated by the label “Other Device-Side Functionality,” the user device 104 may include additional functions.

A.4. Illustrative User Interface Features

The IPS 102 described above may interact with any type of user device 104. In one case, the user device 104 is a portable-type device, meaning a device designed to be readily carried from location to location. In one specific case, the user device 104 allows the user to consume the media items while holding the user device 104, e.g., in a manner which simulates the way a user might hold a physical book. A portable user device may take the form of an eBook reader device, a portable music player, a personal digital assistant, a mobile telephone, a game module, a laptop computer, and so forth, and/or any combination of these types of devices. Alternatively, or in addition, the user device 104 may correspond to a device not readily portable, such as a personal computer, set-top box associated with a television, gaming console, and so on.

Without limitation, FIG. 5 shows one type of user device 500 which may be used to interact with the IPS 102. The user device 500 may include a wedge-shaped body designed to fit easily in the hands of a user, generally having the size of a paperback book. Other user devices may adopt different shapes and sizes.

In one representative design, the user device 500 includes two display parts: a main display part 502 and a supplemental display part 504. The main display part 502 presents various pages provided by the store interaction module 344, the reader module 340, the browser module 402, and so on. In one case, the supplemental display part 504 is used to present a cursor. The user may position the cursor to identify laterally adjacent portions in the main display part 502. Without limitation, in one illustrative case, the main display part 502 and/or the supplemental display part 504 may be implemented using electronic paper technology, such as provided by E Ink Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. This technology presents information using a non-volatile mechanism; using this technology, the user device 500 may retain information on its display even when the device is powered off.

The user device 500 includes various input keys and mechanisms. A cursor-movement mechanism 506 allows a user to move a cursor within the supplemental display part 504. In one representative case, the cursor-movement mechanism 506 may include a cursor wheel that may be rotated to move a cursor up and down within the supplemental display part 504. The cursor-movement mechanism 506 may be configured to allow the user to make a selection by pressing down the wheel. Other types of selection mechanisms may be used, such as a touch-sensitive display, a series of vertically and/or horizontally arrayed keys along the edge(s) of the main display part 502, one or more graphical scroll bar(s) in the main display part 502, and so on.

The user device 500 also includes various page-turning buttons, such as next page buttons (508, 510) and a previous page button 512. The next page buttons (508, 510) advance the user to a next page in an item (relative to a page that is currently being displayed). The previous page 512 button advances the user to a previous page in an item (relative to a page that is currently being displayed). The user device 500 may also include a page-turning input mechanism 514 actuated by the user's thumb as it passes over the mechanism 514. This user experience simulates the manner in which a user turns a page in a physical book (e.g., by “thumbing through” a book). The user device 500 may also include a back button 516 allowing the user to advance to a previous page when using the browsing module 402. Although not shown, the user device 500 may include a switch for turning power on and off, a switch for enabling and disabling a wireless interface, and so on.

The user device 500 may also include a keyboard 518. The keyboard 518 may include alphanumeric keys. The keys may be shaped and oriented in a manner which facilitates the user's interaction with the keys while the user holds the device 104 in the manner of a physical book. The user may use the keyboard 518 to enter search terms, annotations, URLs, and so forth. The keyboard 518 may also include various special-function keys.

FIG. 6 illustrates one way in which a user may use the user device 500 of FIG. 5 to select content on the main display part 502. Namely, assume the main display part 502 displays a page of content 602. The content 602 may include various selection points arrayed along its right-most vertical edge. The selection points laterally correspond to associated parts of the content 602. For example, a representative selection point 604 corresponds to a selectable item 606 in the page of content 602. The supplemental display part 504 presents a cursor 608. A user may move the cursor up and down within the supplemental display part 504 by rotating the cursor-movement mechanism 506.

In operation, the user may operate the cursor-movement mechanism 506 so that the cursor 608 is laterally aligned with a desired selection point, such as selection point 604 as shown in FIG. 6. In the case in which the cursor-movement mechanism 506 is a cursor wheel, the user may rotate the wheel to move the cursor 608 to a desired location along the vertical extent of the supplemental display part 504. In this implementation, the user may then press down on the cursor wheel to formally select the item 606 corresponding to the selection point 604.

Additional information regarding one representative type of book-reader type device may be found in the following family of applications:

-   -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/246,293, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled         “Electronic Media Reader Display,” naming the inventors of         Whitehorn, et al.;     -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/246,294, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled         “Electronic Media Reader Keypad,” naming the inventors of         Thomas J. Hobbs, et al.;     -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/246,295, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled         “Wedge-Shaped Electronic Media Reader,” naming the inventors of         Whitehorn et al.;     -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/277,898, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled “Page         Turner For Handheld Electronic Book Reader Device,” naming the         inventors of Gregg E. Zehr, et al.;     -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/277,893, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled         “Handheld Electronic Book Reader Device Having Dual Displays,”         naming the inventors of Gregg E. Zehr, et al.;     -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/277,873, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled         “Handheld Electronic Book Reader Device Having Asymmetrical         Shape,” naming the inventors of Gregg E. Zehr, et al.; and     -   U.S. Ser. No. 11/277,879, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled         “Keyboard Layout for Handheld Electronic Book Reader Device,”         naming the inventors of Gregg E. Zehr, et al.

To repeat, the user interface design shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is representative. Other types of user devices having different types of user interface mechanisms may be used to interact with the IPS 102.

A.5. Illustrative Data Processing Device

Various aspects of the systems shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 may be implemented by one or more data processing devices. For example, various components of the IPS 102 may be implemented by respective server-type computers and associated data processing equipment (e.g., routers, data storage devices, etc.). The user device 104 may also correspond to a data processing device. FIG. 7 shows an overview of a generic data processing device 702 which may be used to implement any aspect of the above-referenced systems, including any server-side features and/or any device-side features.

The processing device 702 includes one or more processing units 704, such as one or more CPUs. The processing device 702 also includes system memory 706, which may correspond to any combination of volatile and/or non-volatile storage mechanisms. The system memory 706 may store information which provides an operating system component 708, various program modules 710, program data 712, and/or other components. The processing device 702 performs functions by using the processing unit(s) 704 to execute instructions provided by the system memory 706. The processing device 702 may also include one or more types of removable storage 714 and one or more types of non-removal storage 716.

The processing device 702 may also include one or more input devices 718 (keyboard, mouse device, specialized selection keys, etc.) and one or more output devices 720 (displays, printers, audio output mechanisms, etc.).

The processing device 702 may also include one or more communication interface mechanisms 722. These communication interface mechanisms 722 allow the processing device 702 to interact with other processing devices 724, such as remote computers, book reader devices, and so forth. The communication interface mechanisms 722 may include one or more wireless interface mechanisms 726. In the case where the processing device 702 represents the user device 104, the wireless interface mechanisms 726 may allow the user device 726 to receive a telephone ring and also communicate with the IPS 102 in a data mode.

The above-enumerated list of modules is representative and is not exhaustive of the types of functions performed by the processing device 702. As indicated by the label “Other Device Functionality” 728, the processing device 702 may include additional functions.

A.6. Illustrative Manner of Downloading Items

As explained in the above sections, the item delivery system 312 of the IPS 102 interacts with the device-side to-do list processing module 334 to download items from the content store 308 of the IPS 102. The item delivery system 312, in turn, includes two components: a to-do list server module 314; and a content delivery module 316. The to-do list processing module 334 interacts with the to-do list server module 314 to download entries, where the entries identify items to be retrieved from the IPS 102. The to-do list processing module 334 interacts with the content delivery module 316 to retrieve the actual items identified by the entries. FIG. 8 provides additional information regarding one protocol 800 for downloading items from the IPS 102 to the user device 104. The protocol is illustrative; it may be varied in various ways to suit different environments.

In operation (1), the IPS's content reception system 302 receives and stores content in the content store 308. The content reception system 302 may perform this operation in response to receiving a new eBook or other pre-generated item. Or the content reception system 302 may perform this operation in response to receiving a new subscription-related item. Or the content reception system 302 may perform this operation in response to receiving a personal document forwarded by the user. Still other scenarios are possible.

In operation (2), an entry is added to an appropriate queue of the to-do list server module 314. In the case of the selection (e.g., purchase) of an eBook, the merchant store module 318 adds an entry to the to-do list server module 314, corresponding to an instruction to acquire the selected eBook. In this case, operation (2) occurs asynchronously with respect to operation (1), meaning that these two operations are not part of a linked integral transaction. Although not shown in this overview figure, the user's purchase of an eBook (or other a la carte selection, such as a subscription issue, etc.) also prompts the IPS 102 to store information regarding the user's purchase in the media library module 324. In the case of the receipt of a subscription-related item, the item reception system 302, in conjunction with the subscription module 310, add an entry to the to-do list server module 314. In this case, operation (2) occurs in response to operation (1), and thus these operations may be viewed as part of a single transaction. For the receipt of a new issue of a subscription, the subscription module 310 represents the user's ownership of the issue by virtue of the user's prior purchase of the subscription, in the manner to be described in greater detail below. In the case of a personal item, the functionality dedicated to receiving, converting, and storing the user's personal item may optionally add an entry to the to-do list server module 314 (if, in fact, the user has opted to receive the document via a wireless communication route, instead of an alternative non-wireless mode of delivery).

In operation (3), the to-do list server module 314 sends a notification message to the device's to-do list processing module 334. In one illustrative case, the notification message may be implemented as a telephone ring, also referred to herein as a TelePhone Home (TPH) signal. All subsequent communication between the item delivery system 312 and the to-do list processing module 334 operates in a data mode, e.g., using the HTTP protocol or some other protocol or combination of protocols.

In operation (4), the device's to-do list processing module 334 will wake up (if it happens to be asleep at the time) and respond to the TPH signal. The notification process may involve switching from a first power state to a second power state, where the second power state consumes more power than the first power state. Upon waking up, the to-do list processing module 334 sends a message to the to-do list server module 314, which requests the to-do list server module 314 to forward a list of n entries, such as, without limitation, 10 entries. The n entries may represent a subset of entries in the list maintained by the to-do list server module 314 for the user device 104. The to-do list server module 314 responds to this request by forwarding the list of up to n entries.

As described above, each entry provides an envelope which conveys an instruction. One such type of instruction commands the user device 104 to retrieve an item from the IPS 102. There are other types of instructions, which will be described in Section B. In operation (5), assuming that one or more entries of the n entries retrieved from the to-do list server module 314 correspond to GET instructions, the to-do list processing module 334 sends a request to the content delivery module 316, asking this module 316 to download the items identified in the GET instructions.

In operation (6), the content delivery module 316 responds to the request for the items by attempting to retrieve the items from the content store 308. If the content delivery module 316 is successful, it forwards the requested items to the user device 104 (which may be considered as part of operation (5), as illustrated in FIG. 8). In some circumstances, such as in the case of feeds, the content delivery module 316 may attempt to retrieve and download a delta file which expresses the difference between a current version of requested content and a prior version of the content, where the user device already locally possesses the prior version. So as not to unduly complicate this introductory discussion, the details of the incremental updating operation will be provided in a later part of this description.

Operation (6) may also involve various permission-checking steps. For example, for the case of eBooks and other a la carte selections, the content delivery module 316 may consult the personal media library module 324 to determine whether the user has authorization to receive the item. In the case of subscription-related items, the content delivery module 316 may consult the subscription module 310 to determine whether the user has authorization to receive the item (e.g., by determining whether the user is generally authorized to receive issues of a particular subscription). So as not to unduly complicate FIG. 8, the signal flow associated with permission-checking is omitted, although this detail will be provided in later figures and accompanying description.

In operation (5), the content delivery module 316 may also download various hints to the user device 104. One such hint informs the user device 104 whether the IPS 102 stores an index corresponding to the requested item. For instance, the IPS 102 may have generated this index when it initially received the item or at some other juncture. Another hint informs the user device 104 of whether the IPS 102 stores annotations for the requested item. These annotations may correspond to information created by the user and backed up by the IPS 102 on one or more prior occasions. The user device 104 uses the hints to determine whether it is worthwhile to even request the IPS 102 to deliver the search index and/or annotations for the requested item. Namely, if the content delivery module 316 informs the user device 104 that it does not have a search index, then it is not a useful exercise to request the index. The use of hints eliminates the need for the user device 104 to conduct a potentially over-the-air sluggish question-and-response procedure to determine whether the IPS 102 stores index information and/or annotation information.

Assume the user device 104 is informed by the hints that the IPS 102 does indeed have either (or both) a search index and backup annotations. In operation (7) the to-do list processing module 334 requests and receives this type of supplemental information.

In operation (8), the to-do list processing module 334 stores the item (and optionally the supplemental information) in the device memory 336.

In operation (9), the to-do list processing module 334 sends a remove message to the to-do list server module 314. This message informs the to-do list server module 314 that the user device 104 has successfully retrieved a subset of identified items from the IPS 102 and that the to-do list server module 314 may consequently remove these items from the appropriate queue. In operation (10), the to-do list server module 314 may acknowledge receipt of the remove message sent to it by the user device 104.

The retrieved n entries may correspond to only a subset of a more encompassing list of items maintained by the to-do list server module 314. If this is the case, the to-do list processing module 334 repeats the above-described operations by retrieving up to another n entries and receiving the items identifies by these entries from the content delivery module 316.

Although not shown, upon the occurrence of an error in the download process, the user device 104 can convey error information to the IPS 102 and/or vice versa.

B. Illustrative Components in System

Having set forth an overview of the system in Section A, this section explains various components of the system in greater detail. While the components may be used in the context of the overall system described above, the components may also be used in other types of systems.

B.1. Illustrative Content Reception Functionality

B.1.a. Overview of Content Reception System

As described above, the content reception system 302 receives items from one or more sources 304 and, if appropriate, converts the items into a device-readable format. Such conversion is also referred to as “content creation” herein in a liberal sense because the conversion process does not produce the content ex nihilo. The content reception system 302 may include separate modules for handling pre-generated items (such as eBooks), subscription-related items, and personal items. Namely, the content reception system 302 includes an eBook processing module 902, a subscription-related processing module 904, and a user-supplied processing module 906.

The eBook processing module 902 receives, processes, and stores items users typically select in an on-demand manner. In one scenario, for example, the eBook processing module 902 may receive a new eBook from a publisher source or other type of source, convert this item into a desired format, and store this item in the content store 308. The processing performed by this module 902 may also involve creating a search index for the newly received item, creating a detail page for this item, and so on. Users may then, some time after the eBook item is stored, purchase this item, thus initiating the downloading of the item to the user. The eBook reception process is decoupled from the downloading process, meaning that these two operations occur asynchronously.

The subscription-related processing module 904 receives, processes, and stores items on a subscription-related basis. In one representative case, a user may purchase a subscription which entitles the user to receive future issues, editions, installments, etc. of a subscription-related item, such as future issues of a magazine, journal, newsletter, newspaper, blog, feed, and so forth. The reception process in this case is linked to the downloading process, meaning that the receipt of a new subscription-related item triggers the downloading of this item to users who have registered to receive this item.

In a variant of the subscription-related reception operation, the subscription-related content processing module 904 may automatically establish user subscriptions and deliver items in accordance with these subscriptions, potentially without the involvement and/or approval of the users. This feature may be useful to provide advertisements to users, to notify the users of various alerts and other events, and so on. As another example, the user may expressly purchase one or more types of subscriptions, and, in response, the subscription-related content processing module 904 authorizes the dissemination of the expressly-purchased subscriptions as well as one or more other subscriptions (which the user did not expressly purchase). In still another case, a user may subscribe to a single publication of an item, such as when the user pre-purchases an item which has yet to be published; when the item is published, the subscription-related processing module 904 will be invoked to deliver the item to the users who have pre-purchased this item.

The user-supplied processing module 906 creates items originally supplied by a user. In other words, in a first phase, the user-supplied processing module 906 receives an item from a user. The item may correspond to any kind of personal document, such as a word processing document, a PDF document, and so on. In a second phase, the user-supplied processing module 906 converts this item into a device-readable format and then forwards the converted item back to the user. The user may consume the converted item using his or her user device 104.

Any of the content processing modules (902, 904, 906) may rely on one more conversion tools 908. Each conversion tool provides functionality for converting content from an original format into a defined target format. For instance, a .mobi conversion tool 910 converts content from an original format into a .mobi format. Other tools (912, . . . 914) convert an item from an original format into other respective types of device-readable formats. In one case, the conversion tools 908 accept items in a predefined number of acceptable original formats. Without limitation, in one illustrative implementation, the acceptable original formats may include Adobe PDF format, TXT format, HTML format, rich text format (RTF), Microsoft Word document format (DOC), and so on. Acceptable formats for images may include, without limitation, JPEG format, GIF format, PNG format, BMP format, and so on.

B.1.b. Illustrative Subscription Module

FIG. 10 illustrates additional information regarding the subscription module 310, which was introduced in the context of FIG. 3. The subscription module 310 includes a subscription management module 1002. The subscription management module 1002 administers the creation and termination of subscriptions, as well as other aspects of subscriptions. In one case, the merchant store module 318 may receive a user's purchase of a subscription (or more generally, a user's acquisition of a subscription). The merchant store module 318 may communicate the user's selection to the subscription management module 1002. The subscription management module 1002, in turn, may interact with a subscription store 1004, e.g., by adding new entries to the store 1004, deleting entries in the store 1004, modifying entries in the store 1004, and so on.

More specifically, the subscription module 310 identifies subscriptions available as respective parent-type nodes. When a particular issue of a subscription is received and processed, the subscription module 310 associates this issue as a child node of a corresponding parent subscription. Assume a user purchases a particular subscription; at that time, the user is associated with a particular parent node, corresponding to the subscription. In additional, or alternatively, a subscription can be associated with a device or other entity. Further, in one implementation, the subscription module 310 manages each user's ownership of issues of this subscription by relating the user to the parent subscription, rather than individual issues of the subscription.

The subscription management module 1002 also interacts with the content delivery module 316 to inform the content delivery module 316 whether a user has appropriate authorization to download a subscription-related item (for the case of an item received as per the terms of a subscription, rather than an a la carte selection of a subscription item). In one case, such permission-checking takes place on a per-subscription basis, not on a per-issue basis (unlike, in one particular implementation, the case of eBooks and other a la carte selections, in which permission-checking takes place on a per-item basis).

B.1.c. Illustrative Index-Generating Functionality and Annotation-Handling Functionality

In addition to content produced by the content reception process, supplemental information may be associated with items. One such type of supplemental information is index information. Another type of supplemental information is annotation information. FIG. 11 provides an overview of functionality for producing such supplemental information.

As to the creation of device indexes, the IPS 102 may provide server-side index generating functionality 1102. The server-side index-generating functionality 1102 may include a server-side index-generating module 1104 for generating an index. The server-side index-generating module 1104 stores the index generated in a server-side index store 1106. The user device 104 may include a device-side index generating functionality 1108 for generating an index. Thus, both the IPS 102 and the user device 104 have the ability to generate an index for an item.

Various rules may be used to determine whether an index will be provided by the server-side index-generating functionality 1102 or the device-side index-generating functionality 1108. According to one consideration, the user device 104 will attempt to generate the index using the device-side index-generating functionality 1008, but if this process proves to be too slow, the user device 104 may request the server-side index-generating functionality to generate the index.

As to the creation and handling of annotations, the user uses a device-side annotation generating functionality 1110 to create annotations for a particular item. (The device-side annotation generating functionality 1110 may be considered synonymous with the annotation module 406, introduced in FIG. 4.) The user may create bookmark-type annotations, highlight-type annotations, note-type annotations, clipping-type content selections, and so on. The user device 104 may also create a “last-page-read” position. This type of annotation identifies the last position at which an item was opened. The device-side annotation-generating functionality 1110 may store the annotations in any device-side store. The user device 104 may retrieve and recreate these annotations when it displays the corresponding item. For instance, when the device reopens the item, the user device 104 may show the same page the user was viewing when the device 104 was closed.

The system 300 may also rely on server-side annotation-handling functionality 1112 for storing a backup of the annotations created by the user at the user device 104. The server-side annotation-handling functionality 1112 may include a module 1114 of the same name for receiving annotations from the user device 104 at various times. In one case, the user device 104 may forward annotations to the IPS 102 as part of a cycle of operations it performs when various events occur. Such events may include any opportunity the device 104 has to interact with the IPS 102 (e.g., in response to the receipt of a TPH signal, etc.). The server-side annotation handling module 1114 may store the annotations it receives from the user device 104 in a server-side annotation backup store 1116.

If the IPS 102 stores backup annotations, it may notify the user device 104 of this fact by providing hint information to the user device 104. The hint information accompanies an item forwarded from the content delivery module 316 to the user device. If the hint indicates that backup annotations are available, the user device 104 may choose to download the annotations. The user device 104 may want to receive these annotations in the event that the local store of these annotations has been deleted, and so forth.

B.1.d. Illustrative Approach to Receiving and Processing Pre-Generated Items

The remainder of Section B.1 provides more information regarding the processes for receiving and processing eBooks and other pre-generated items, subscription-related items, and personal items.

Starting with FIG. 12, this figure is a signal flow diagram illustrating one way to receive and process eBook items and other pre-generated items. In operation (1), the eBook processing module 902 receives an eBook or the like from a publisher or other source. The eBook processing module 902 may optionally convert the eBook item to a device-readable format, create an index for this item, and/or create a detail page which represents this item in the merchant store module 318.

In operation (2), the eBook processing module 904 stores the item and its supplemental parts in the content store 308.

In operation (3), the user may operate the device-side store interaction module 344 to purchase or otherwise acquire the eBook from the merchant content store 318.

In operation (4), the eBook processing module 902 may store salient information in the media library module 324 which indicates the user has purchased the eBook or other a la carte item. As will be described in greater detail below, the content delivery module 316 may consult the media library module 324 at the time of delivery of the item to determine whether the user is authorized to receive the item (e.g., to determine whether the user has actually purchased the item).

In response, in operation (5), the merchant store module 318 may add an entry corresponding to the purchased item in the user's to-do list. This action prompts the to-do list server module 314 to immediately (or some time after) send a TPH signal to the user device 104, notifying the user device 104 that an instruction is outstanding to acquire an item.

The top half of the signal diagram corresponds to a creation phase 1202 of the operation, in which a new eBook is received and processed. The bottom half of the signal diagram corresponds to a delivery phase 1204 of the operation, in which a user purchases and receives a previously stored item. The creation phase 1202 precedes the delivery phase 1204 but these two phases (1202, 1204) are not otherwise linked together.

FIG. 15 shows a procedure 1500 which describes the eBook processing operation in flowchart form.

In block 1502, the eBook processing module 902 receives a new item, e.g., from a publisher of items or some other source.

In block 1504, the eBook processing module 902 optionally converts the new item into a device-readable format—that is, assuming the item is not already expressed in a device-readable format.

In block 1506, the eBook processing module 902 optionally creates an index for the item, an item detail page, and/or other supplemental information associated with the item.

In block 1508, the eBook processing module 902 stores the converted item and any supplemental information associated with the item.

In block 1510, at any time later, the merchant store module 318 receives the user's purchase of the item.

In block 1512, the eBook processing module 902 stores purchase information in the media library module 324. This information identifies the user has purchased a particular eBook or the like.

In block 1514, the merchant store module 318 or some other server-side module adds an entry to the device's to-do queue in the to-do list server module 314. This entry contains an instruction which instructs the user device 104 to retrieve the purchased item.

Block 1516 generally references an item delivery procedure, which is invoked to download the item. Later figures describe this operation in greater detail.

B.1.e. Illustrative Approach to Receiving and Processing Subscription-Related Items

FIG. 13 is a signal flow diagram illustrating one way to receive and process subscription-related items. In operation (1), the subscription-related processing module 904 receives and processes a subscription-related item. This processing may involve converting the item into a device-readable format, indexing the item, and so forth.

In operation (2), the subscription-related processing module 904 stores the received subscription-related item in the IPS content store 308. Although not shown in FIG. 15, in the subscription module 310, the new issue is identified as a child node of a corresponding parent subscription. As explained above, in one case, permission-checking at the time of delivery proceeds on a general subscription-level basis, rather than on a per-item (e.g., per-issue) basis. However, if the user has made a separate selection of a subscription-related item (e.g., an a la carte selection), then the above-described eBook permission-checking is used to govern access to the item.

In operation (3), the subscription-related processing module 904 consults the subscription module 310 to determine the users who should receive the newly received subscription-related item.

In operation (4), the subscription-related processing module 904 may store an entry in each of the to-do queues of the identified subscribing users.

FIG. 16 shows a procedure 1600 which describes the subscription-related processing operation in flowchart form.

In block 1602, the subscription-related processing module 904 receives a new subscription-related item, such as a magazine issue, a newspaper edition, a feed item, and so on.

In block 1604, the subscription-related processing module 904 converts the received item into a device-readable format if appropriate, and optionally produces supplemental information, such as a device index.

In block 1606, the subscription-related processing module 904 stores the received (and potentially converted) subscription-related item in the content store 308.

In block 1608, the subscription-related processing module 904 consults the subscription module 310 to determine the users who should receive the subscription-related item.

In block 1610, the subscription-related processing module 904 provides an entry in each of the to-do queues of the users who will be receiving the subscription-related item.

Block 1612 generally references an item delivery procedure, which is invoked to download the item. Later figures describe this operation in greater detail.

B.1.f. Illustrative Approach to Receiving and Processing Personal Documents

FIG. 14 is a signal flow diagram illustrating one way to receive and process personal items (such as a personal document). In operation (1), the user uses Email functionality or other message-generating functionality to forward a personal item to the user-supplied processing module 906. For instance, the user may include the personal item as an attachment to an Email message. In one case, the user may forward a single personal item with the Email message. In another case, the user may forward multiple personal items with the Email message, e.g., as multiple attachments to the Email message. The user-supplied processing module 906 allows the user to bundle together one or more attachments, e.g., in a ZIP file or the other form of package.

In one implementation, the user-supplied processing module 906 is configured such that it will only accept an Email message from the user from one or more pre-authorized Email addresses. In one case, the user is allowed to select the Email address(es) in a configuration procedure (e.g., via one or more configuration user interface pages), thereby establishing a permitted list of Email addresses. The user-supplied processing module 906 may initially provide a default Email address which may be used by the user; the user may later change or supplement this default Email address. Placing restrictions on the permissible Email addresses is potentially useful to eliminate or reduce the amount of unwanted items forwarded to the user. Unwanted items may be particularly pernicious in the case in which the user is charged an over-the-air delivery fee to receive these items. However, in another implementation, the user-supplied processing module 906 may not place any restrictions on the Email addresses that may be used to forward personal items to the user-supplied processing module 906.

In operation (2), the user-supplied processing module 906 may receive and process the received message (in the event that the message originates from an address identified on the permitted address list). Such processing may involve interpreting the message to identify the source of the message, the target destination that the converted item(s) will be sent to, and/or other salient information regarding the message. The processing also involves extracting the personal item(s) from the message and converting the item to a device-readable format. In the case that one or more personal items are packaged in a ZIP file or the like, the extracting operation may involve removing one or more personal items from this package file.

The above-described processing operation may wholly succeed, wholly fail, or partially succeed (and partially fail). A partial failure may occur when the Email message contains multiple personal items as attachments, and the user-supplied processing module 906 is successful in converting some of these items but not others. For instance, the unsuccessfully converted items may be expressed in an unsupported original format. In operation (3), the user-supplied processing module 906 may notify the Email sender of any type of failure (either total failure or partial failure). In the case of a partial failure, the user-supplied processing module 906 may continue processing the successfully-processed item(s), e.g., by delivering these items to the User.

The user may select at least two delivery options to receive the converted personal item(s). In a first option, the user may request that the converted personal item(s) be forward to the user in wireless form. If this is the case, in operation (4), the user-supplied processing module 906 adds an entry to the user's to-do queue in the to-do list server module 314. In a second option, the user may request that the converted personal item(s) be made available to the user via a non-wireless route. For example, the user may request that the converted item(s) be sent to the user in an Email form. The user may extract the converted personal item(s) from the Email message and then transfer the converted personal item(s) to the user device 104 via hardwired link, such as via USB connection. Or the user may request that the converted item(s) be posted to a network-accessible site. The user may access this site using a personal computer or like mechanism, download the converted item(s) (over non-wireless infrastructure), and then transfer the converted item(s) to the user device via USB connection or other mechanism. Operation (5) generally represents the delivery of one or more personal items via a non-wireless route. A user may generally prefer to the use the non-wireless route to avoid the possible expense of downloading content over the air.

FIG. 17 shows a procedure 1700 which describes the personal item processing operation in flowchart form.

In block 1702, the user-supplied processing module 906 receives a message from the user, such as an Email message, which includes an attached user-supplied item (or plural items).

In block 1704, the user-supplied processing module 906 determines whether the message originates from a permissible address by consulting the permitted address list. If so permitted, the user-supplied processing module 906 parses and interprets the message, as well as extracts the personal item(s) attached thereto. Extracting the items may involve removing the items from a package file of any kind.

In block 1706, the user-supplied processing module 906 converts the personal item(s) to a device-readable format, if, in fact, the personal item(s) is (are) not currently in such a format. The user-supplied processing module 906 can rely on a single mechanism to perform this conversion; alternatively, the user-supplied processing module 906 can rely on any one or more of multiple available conversion mechanisms. For instance, the user-supplied processing module 906 can select a conversion mechanism that it deems to be the most suitable for converting a particular type of item; in addition, or alternatively, a user may forward instructions that identify one or more mechanisms to be applied to a particular item. In one case, if the user-supplied processing module 906 is not successful in processing the item using one type of conversion mechanism, it can try another conversion mechanism, and so on.

In addition, or alternatively, conversion may optionally involve resizing the personal item into a form that better accommodates presentation of the converted item by a user device. That is, this provision may make the converted item more readable when presented on the device.

In addition, or alternatively, conversion may involve rotating the personal item, e.g., by 90 degrees, to again better accommodate presentation of the converted item by the user device.

In addition, or alternatively, conversion may involve breaking up the personal item into multiple parts for presentation on the user device in multiple pages. For example, as shown to the rights of block 1706, the user-supplied processing module 906 may rotate the personal item by 90 degrees and then break it up into multiple parts. This operation may be appropriate for certain personal items that have large images (for example, PDF documents with scanned page images). Again, this provision may make the converted item more readable when presented on the device.

In block 1708, the user-supplied processing module 906 determines what route the user wishes to use to receive the converted personal item(s). In one case, the determination performed in block 1708 may be implied. For instance, the user-supplied processing module 906 may provide a first Email address for receiving items that are to be sent over a wireless route once converted. The user-supplied processing module 906 may provide a second Email address for receiving items that are to be sent over a non-wireless route. If the user sends the personal item(s) to the first Email address, then it is understood that the user wishes to receive the converted item via a wireless route. If the user sends the personal item(s) to the second Email address, then it is understood that the user wishes to receive the converted item(s) via a non-wireless route. In another case, the user-supplied processing module 906 may provide a single Email address for receiving personal items. The user-supplied processing module 906 may discriminate the selected delivery route by interpreting instructions provided in the message itself, and so on.

Assume that the user has selected a wireless delivery route. In this case, in block 1710, the user-supplied processing module 906 adds an entry to the user's to-do queue in the to-do list server module 314.

Block 1712 generally references an item delivery procedure, which is invoked to download the item(s). Later figures describe this operation in greater detail.

Next assume that the user has selected a non-wireless delivery route. In block 1714, the user-supplied processing module 906 makes the converted item(s) available to the user through an alternative transfer mechanism, such as Emailing the converted item(s) back to the user, posting the converted item to a network-accessible site, and so on.

As indicated in block 1716, the user-supplied processing module 906 may ascertain whether there are any failures in the processing of the item(s). If so, in block 1718, the user-supplied processing module 906 sends an error notification message to the sender. If there is only a partial failure, then processing proceeds with respect to the item(s) that may be successfully processed.

B.2. Illustrative To-Do Server Module

This section provides additional information regarding an illustrative composition and operation of the to-do list server module 314. Recall that the to-do list server module 314 operates by sending instructions to the user device 104, thereby instructing the user device 104 to retrieve items and perform other actions.

The to-do server module 314 includes a to-do list receiving module 1802. The to-do list receiving module 1802 receive entries from various sources, such as the various processing modules (902, 904, 906) described in the previous section. For instance, the to-do list entry receiving module 1802 may receive an entry when a user purchases an eBook or like content, when a subscription-related item is received, when the user sends a personal document to the IPS 102, and so on. All of these events cause the generation of a GET-type entry, which serves as an instruction for the user device 104 to download the item corresponding to the GET-type entry. Other IPS-side modules may add a GET-type entry to a queue to notify the user device 104 that it should download an item that provides an instruction-bearing upgrade.

Other types of entries may convey different types of instructions. In one case, an entity within the IPS 102 may generate a delete (DEL) instruction which instructs the user device 104 to delete an item that it may have previously received and stored in its device memory 336. In one circumstance, the user may have purchased an item, which prompted the generation of a GET-type entry. But later it may be determined that the user's credit standing is deficient, precluding the purchase of the item. In this case, an appropriate entity in the IPS 102 (such as the merchant store module 318) may add a DEL-type entry to the user's to-do queue.

In another case, an appropriate entity in the IPS 102 (such as monitoring and/or testing functionality) may add a command (e.g., a PUT instruction) to a user's to-do queue to request the user device 104 to forward performance logs and/or other information to the monitoring and/or testing functionality.

In another case, an appropriate entity in the IPS 102 may add information to the to-do queue which prompts the user device 104, upon receipt of this entry, to display information to the user, e.g., in a pop-up form or other type of alert-related form.

The IPS 102 may add yet additional types of instructions to the users' to-do queues to suit different applications and environments.

The to-do list server module 314 may include to-do list stores 1804 for maintaining a plurality of to-do lists, also referred to as to-do queues. More specifically, the to-do list server module 314 may maintain different queues for respective user devices, such as a to-do list A for user device A, a to-do B for user device B, and so on. A user device interacts with its own respective to-do list, as represented by the dashed-line box in FIG. 18, which indicates that the entries in mailbox store A are designated for user device A.

The to-do server module 314 also includes a device interaction module 1806. The purpose of the device interaction module 1806 is to allow the to-do server module 314 to interact with the device-side to-do list processing module 334. The device interaction module 1806 includes a notification module 1808. The notification module 1808 forwards a notification message to user device 108, e.g., in the form of a ring-type TPH signal. The device interaction module 1806 thereafter interacts with the user device 104 in a data mode. Namely, the device interaction module 1806 receives the user device's request for a list of n entries in the user's to-do queue, upon which the device interaction module 1806 provides this list. The device interaction module 1806 may later receive the user device's instruction to remove one or more entries from the list, indicating that the user device successfully downloaded the items associated with the those entries.

The to-do list server module 314 includes a to-do list management module 1810. The to-do list management module 1810 manages entries posted to a user's to-do queue. In one case, an entity may post a GET-type entry to a user's queue, and then the same entity or another entity may post a DEL-type entry, instructing the user device 104 to delete the same item that the device was previously asked it to get. In this circumstance, in one case, the to-do list management module 1810 may delete the GET-type entry, but not the DEL-type entry. This action may be appropriate in a scenario in which the user device 104 has already received the GET-type entry and may be in the process of downloading the corresponding item.

In another case, the to-do list management module 1810 determines that a user's to-do queue contains several editions of a newspaper or other periodical. The to-do list management module 1810 may remove all but the most current edition of the periodical, under the premise that a user will not want to read an old newspaper. The user may be given the option of making set-up selections which override this behavior. In another case, the user may access older editions of a newspaper via the content manager module 342, in a manner to be discussed below.

In general, the to-do list management module 1810 helps ensure that the to-do list queue does not contain inconsistent or redundant entries, or some other undesirable entry-type content.

FIG. 19 shows a procedure 1900 which illustrates one manner of operation of the to-do server module 314 in flowchart form. The procedure 1900 is explained with reference to the delivery of items to a particular user device; the to-do server module 314 uses the same procedure to forward items to other user devices.

In block 1902, the to-do server module 314 receives one or more to-do entries. This action may be triggered by the purchase of new eBooks and the like, the receipt of new subscription-related items, and do on.

In block 1904, the to-do server module 314 stores the entries in an appropriate mailbox (where such a mailbox is associated with the user device that will eventually receive the items).

In block 1906, the to-do server module 314 sends a TPH signal to the user device to alert the user device to the presence of one or more entries that it may download. More specifically, in one implementation, TPH scheduling functionality may receive TPH events. Based on one or more considerations, the TPH scheduling functionality may decide whether to immediately send a TPH signal or to delay sending the TPH signal (e.g., by possibly coalescing plural TPH events and sending a single TPH signal). Additional details regarding the TPH scheduling functionality are provided in below. The TPH scheduling functionality may be implemented as a feature of the notification module 1808.

In block 1908, the to-do server module 314 provides n entries to the user device, in response to the user device requesting these items.

In block 1910, after the user device has successfully performed the actions identified by the entries (such as downloaded one or more items, deleted one or more items, and so on), then the user device 104 sends a remove instruction to the to-do server module 314. In operation 1910, the to-do server module 314 responds to this request by removing the entries of the to-do queue.

FIG. 20 shows a procedure 2000 which illustrates one manner of operation of the to-do list management module (“management module”) 1810 of the to-do list server module 314. In one implementation, the procedure of 2000 is performed when a new entry is added to a to-do queue, e.g., between operations 1902 and 1904 of FIG. 19.

In block 2002, the management module 1810 analyzes the entries in the to-do queue (along with the candidate entry that is to be added to the to-do queue). More specifically, the management module 1810 may specifically examine entries currently stored in the queue waiting to be sent to the user device. The management module 1810 may also consider entries that have already been forwarded to the user device 104.

In block 2004, the management module 1810 identifies any two or more entries that may conflict with each other for any reason, or which may cause any other concern. One example of a conflict is the case in which a GET-type entry contradicts a DEL-type entry for the same item. Another example of an actionable issue is where a to-do queue contains several editions for a same newspaper or other periodical. Another example of an actionable issue is where a to-do queue contains exact duplicate entries, and so on.

In block 2006, the management module 1810 takes steps to resolve or mitigate any problems caused by conflicting entries, if possible. Operation 2004 may entail making modifications to the queue, such as deleting one or more entries to the queue, adding one or more entries to the queue, and so on. Operation 2004 may additionally, or in the alternative, involve sending corrective commands to the user device.

B.3. Illustrative To-Do List Processing Module

FIG. 21 shows details of the device-side to-do list processing module 334. The modules shown in FIG. 21 complement many of the modules shown in FIG. 18 for the to-do list server module 314.

The to-do list processing module 334 includes a TPH-receiving module 2102 for receiving a notification message from the IPS 102, e.g., in the form of a telephone ring. The TPH receiving module 2102 may act on the TPH signal without formally answering this signal, after which the to-do list processing module 334 exchanges information with the IPS 102 using a data mode. Upon receiving the TPH signal, the user device 104 may transition from a first power state to a second power state, where the second power state consumes more power than the second power state. This is assuming that the user device is not already in the second power state.

The to-do list processing module 334 includes a list server interaction module 2104 for use in handling all interaction with the to-do list server module 314 (except the TPH aspects of this interaction). Namely, the list server interaction module 2104 may send a request to receive a list of n entries from the to-do list server module 314, and then receive such list if the retrieval operation is successful. After the user device obtains the items referenced by the entries in the list (and/or performs other actions identified by the entries), the list server interaction module 2104 may send a remove instruction to the to-do list-server module 314, instructing the to-do list server module 314 to remove corresponding items from its to-do queue.

The to-do list processing module 334 includes a content delivery (CD) interaction module 2106. The purpose of the CD interaction module 2106 is to interact with the server-side content delivery module 316 to request and obtain items that are identified in the list of n entries. The CD interaction module 2106 may also receive various hints from the content delivery module 316, as well as supplemental information (e.g., index information, backup annotations, etc.). The CD interaction module 2106 may store items and other information that it receives in the device memory 336 or in some other storage medium (or media).

The to-do list processing module 314 may also include a device-side management module 2108. This device management module 2108 coordinates the operation of the to-do list processing module 334. The device management module 2108, in turn, may include a device-side incremental update module 2110 and a device-side error handling module 2112. The incremental update module 2110 and error handing module 2112 work in cooperation to govern the retrieval operations performed by the CD interaction module 2106. The incremental update operation is described in detail in a later section.

By way of preview, if appropriate for a particular type of item being requested (having a prescribed content), the incremental update module 2110 may instruct the CD interaction module 2106 to obtain an identified item by first requesting a delta file. The delta file expresses the difference between a device-side version of the desired content and a current version of the content. If this operation is not successful for any reason (as assessed by the error handling module 2112), the incremental update module 2110 may instruct the CD interaction module 2106 to request a full version of the identified item. As will be described, the content delivery module 316 of the IPS 102 includes a server-side incremental update module which handles the incremental update operation in an independent but complementary manner to the device-side incremental update module 2110.

FIG. 22 shows a procedure 2200 which describes the operation of the device to-do list processing module 334 in flowchart form.

In block 2202, TPH receiving module 2102 receives a notification message from the to-do list server module 314, optionally in the form of a telephone ring. The download process may also be initiated by other events. For example, the process may be initiated in response to the activation of a “Check New Items” command (e.g., made available via one or more device menus). The process may also be initiated by turning on the user device 104 radio (from an off state). The process may also be initiated when the user device 104 enters a geographical location where wireless service is available from a location where it was not available, and so on.

In block 2204, in response to the notification message, the user device transitions to an appropriate power state (if not already in the appropriate state). The list server interaction module 2104 then requests and receives n entries from the to-do queue maintained by the to-do list server module 314.

In block 2206, the CD interaction module 2106 requests items identified by the n entries.

In block 2208, the CD interaction module 2106 receives the items (if the download is successful), together with hints. A first hint notifies the user device 104 an index for an item is available at the IPS 102. A second hint notifies the user device 104 backup annotations are available at the IPS 102. The first and second hints may also be used to indicate an index and/or backup annotation are respectively not available.

In block 2210, the CD interaction module 2106 optionally downloads supplemental information (if deemed appropriate). Such additional information comprises search index information and annotation information.

In block 2212, the CD interaction module 2106 stores the retrieved item(s) and supplemental information in the device memory 336 and/or in some other storage location(s).

In block 2214, the list server interaction module 2104 notifies the to-do list server module 314 that it has successfully downloaded the items, allowing the to-do list server module 314 to remove the corresponding entries from the to-do queue.

FIG. 22 shows that operations 2206-2214 may be performed in en bloc fashion, e.g., by effectively downloading multiple items and performing other actions as an integral process. In another implementation, after receiving the list of n entries in block 2204, the user device 104 may perform operations 2206-2214 for the first entry in the list, followed by performing operations 2206-2214 for the second entry in the list, and so on, until the user device 104 processes all of the n entries.

B.4. Illustrative Content Delivery Module

B.4.a. Overview of the Content Delivery Module

FIG. 23 provides additional details regarding the server-side content delivery module 316. The server-side content delivery module 316 performs a host of functions relating, in part, to the delivery of items to the user device 104 upon its request.

To begin with, the content delivery module 316 includes a download module 2302. The download module 2302 coordinates with the CD interaction module 2106, receiving requests for items from this module 2106, and, if possible, delivering the requested items to the CD interaction module 2106. The download module 2302 retrieves the requested items from the content store 308. The download module 2302 also may retrieve supplemental information from the index store 1106 and the annotation store 1116. The index store 1106 stores an index (if available) for an item being requested. The annotation store 1116 stores backup annotations (if available) for an item being requested.

The download module 2302 may include an incremental download module 2304, which retrieves delta information from a delta information store 2306. The purpose of the download module 2302 is to download, if possible, a delta version of requested content, rather than the full version of the requested content. A delta version of requested content corresponds to the difference between a device-side version of the requested content and a current version of the requested content. More specifically, the delta information store 2306 provides various delta files, each file corresponding to a difference between a potential device-side version of requested content and the current version of the requested content (where what is regarded as the current version changes with the reception of each new version). In general, the download module 2302 attempts to forward a delta version of the requested content (selected from a collection of delta files in the delta information store 2306), rather than the entire content, to reduce the amount of information that is transmitted from the IPS 102 to the user device 104. So as not to unduly complicate the discussion of FIG. 23, the details of the incremental update process will be provided at a later portion of explanation.

A number of modules of the content delivery module 316 support the download module 2302 in various respective capacities. For example, the content delivery module 316 includes a hint-providing module 2308. The hint-providing module 2308 prepares and forwards a hint which identifies whether an index exists in the index store 1106 for a particular requested item. The hint-providing module 2308 also prepares and forwards a hint which identifies whether backup annotations exist in the annotations store 1116 for a particular request item. Each hint may be expressed as a Boolean Yes-No type of field, or in some other format. The hint-providing module 2308 may send the hints along with the items provided by the download module 2302.

The content delivery module 316 also includes an annotation formatting module 2310. The annotation store 116 may store the backup annotations in a generic form in annotation store 1116. Assuming that backup annotations are available and the user device 104 requests these annotations, the annotation formatting module 2310 may convert the backup annotations from its generic form to a form which is compatible with the format of the corresponding item itself, such as the format of the eBook item itself. The download module 2302 may then forward the annotations to the user device in a desired format.

In one implementation, the annotation store 116 fully describes all types of annotations identified above. In another illustrative implementation, the annotation store 1116 only stores the locations of the annotations and the content of user notes. In this case, the annotation store 1116 may not store actual excerpts associated with highlight-type and clipping-type annotations. In one implementation, the annotation formatting module 2310 may contact the content store 308 to request excerpts based on the stored locations of the annotations. This allows the system to reconstruct highlight-type and clipping-type annotations.

The content delivery module 316 also includes an encryption module 2312. The encryption module 2312 may optionally encrypt an item to be delivered to the user device 104 for a particular user. This may comprise receiving an item from the content store 308 and applying Digital Rights Management (DRM) and/or other protection-related processing to a header of the item. The encryption module 2312 need not store an entire copy of the item in memory before applying encryption-related processing to the item. In other words, the encryption module 2312 may stream out the item to the user device 104, applying encryption to parts of the item as appropriate. In one case, the encryption module 2312 applies encryption to all items that it delivers. In another case, the encryption module 2312 applies encryption to some items (such as eBooks, subscription-related items, etc.) but not other items (such as personal items and IPS-generated messages, etc.).

The content delivery module 316 also includes a personalization module 2314. The personalization module 2314 may insert personalized information into an item prior to its being delivered to a user. For example, the item may include one or more placeholder fields. The personalization module 2314 may populate the placeholder fields with personalized information, such as the name of the user, and so forth.

The content delivery module 316 also includes a metadata injection module 2316. As the name suggests, the metadata injection module 2316 inserts metadata into the item before it is delivered to the user. The metadata may include the names of the authors of the item. As will be discussed, the content manager module 342 may display this name information to the user in one or more user interface pages. The metadata may also include information that specifies the location where the text of the item starts. This location information enables a “go to the beginning” feature that may be invoked via one or more menus provided by the user device 104. The metadata may also include a custom title for the item. This metadata allows the content delivery module 316 to present an item with a personalized message, such as “Thank You, John,” in one or more pages, and so on. The last-mentioned feature overlaps with the role of the personalization module 2314 described above.

The metadata injected into the item may also include item identification information, such as a unique ID number used by the merchant store module 318 to identify the item. More specifically, in one illustrative implementation, when the content reception system 302 receives and processes content, it does not couple an ID number with the item itself in the content store 308. The content reception system 302 stores ID information elsewhere in the IPS 102. At time of delivery of a particular item, the metadata injection module 2316 may associate the item with its ID number and send out this combination of information as a package. For instance, the metadata injection module 2316 may insert ID information in the header of the item prior to delivery.

In one case, the encryption module 2312 and the metadata injection module 2316 (and/or other modules) may operate in series as discrete operations. In another case, the encryption module 2312 and the metadata injection module 2316 (and/or other modules) may operate generally as a single integrated operation.

The content delivery module 316 also includes an authorization module 2318. The authorization module 2318 determines whether the user is entitled to receive the item(s) being requested. The authorization module 2318 may make reference to one more fields of authorization information to makes its decision, such as information which indicates whether a user has suitably paid for the content being requested. As explained above, for an eBook item and other a la carte selections, the authorization module 2318 may interact with the media library module 324 to determine whether the user has purchased (or is otherwise duly entitled to receive) the item. For a subscription-related item that is provided as per a subscription, the authorization module 2318 may interact with the subscription module 310 to determine whether the user is generally authorized to receive issues of a particular subscription (e.g., without making a per-item authorization inquiry).

The content delivery module 316 also includes a download restriction module 2320. The download restriction module 2320 may be implemented as part of the authorization module 2318 or a separate module. The download restriction model 2320 may optionally restrict the downloading of an item to a maximum number of devices, such as, in one illustrative case, five devices.

The above-enumerated list of modules is representative and is not exhaustive of the types of functions performed by the content delivery module 316. As indicated by the label “Other Modules” 2322, the content delivery module 316 may perform additional operations. Further, in some implementations, the content delivery module 316 may omit one or more of the modules identified in FIG. 23.

FIG. 24 shows a procedure 2400 which explains one illustrative manner of operation of the content delivery module 316 in flowchart form. The order of operations illustrated in FIG. 24 may be modified in various ways. Further, one or more blocks shown in FIG. 24 may be omitted. Further, one or more operations may be performed at the same time; in this case, FIG. 24 illustrates these functions as distinct operations to facilitate explanation of these functions.

In block 2402, the content delivery module 316 receives a request from the to-do list processing module 334 for one or more items. To facilitate discussion, the flowchart will assume that the user device 104 has requested a single item.

In block 2404, the content delivery module 316 performs various authorization-related operations, e.g., as described above with respect to the authorization module 2318 and the download restriction module 2320.

In block 2406, the content delivery module 316 retrieves the identified item from the server content store 308.

In block 2408, the content delivery module 316 may optionally personalize the item, such as by inserting the user's name in a placeholder field in the item.

In block 2410, the content delivery module 316 may assign an identification number to the item and/or inject other metadata into the item.

In block 2412, the content delivery module 316 may optionally encrypt the header of each item that it delivers for a particular user. As explained above, the content delivery module 316 may apply encryption to an item without requiring that the entire item be stored in memory.

In block 2414, the content delivery module 316 may forward the prepared item to the user device 104. The items may be accompanied by hints which respectively describe whether the IPS 102 maintains an index for the item and backup annotations for the item.

In block 2416, the content delivery module 316 may receive a request for supplemental information, such as a request for a server-side index and/or a request for backup annotations.

In block 2418, the content delivery module 316 may forward the requested supplemental information to the user device 104.

In block 2410 the process assigns an identifier to the item, and may inject other metadata.

FIG. 25 shows an illustrative procedure 2500 which explains one manner in which the user device 104 may process an item upon receipt.

In block 2502, the user device 104 receives a requested item. The item corresponds to a specific type of content, which may be an eBook item, a subscription-related item, a bundle of answers to a user's query, and so on. The item may also be represented by one or more identification numbers, also known as keys. In one case, each edition or issue of a subscription-related item is assigned a unique identification number.

In block 2504, the user device 104 determines whether the type and key (e.g. the identification number) of the item are the same as an item that is currently stored by the user device 104. If so, for eBook items and subscription-related items, this means that the user device is now receiving a completely redundant copy of an item which it already possesses. In the case of feeds, this may mean that the user device 104 is receiving at least a new version of the feed, which may add and/or omit one or more parts with respect to a previous version of the feed. A version identifier may be used to identify the version of a received feed.

In block 2506, if the item is deemed redundant, the user device 104 may consolidate the newly received item with the previously stored item having the same type and key, thereby only creating a single record for this entry.

In block 2508, if the item is not deemed to be redundant, the user device may store the newly received item as a distinct new item. In one implementation, at this juncture, the user device 104 may also check the received hints and download the appropriate supplemental information (annotation backup information, and/or index information, etc.).

B.4.b. Illustrative Approach to Incremental Updating

FIGS. 26-29 describe a procedure for performing incremental updating. The general purpose of this procedure is to provide the user device with a delta version of requested item, rather than the full version of the requested item, if possible. A delta version of a requested item expresses the difference between a version of the content that is already possessed by the device (e.g., a “device version”) and a current version of the content. Upon receipt of the delta version, the device constructs the full version of the requested item by integrating (e.g., patching) the delta version of the item into the existing prior (device) version. The procedure attempts to provide a delta version of the requested item to the user device 104 to help reduce the amount of information being transmitted from the IPS 102 to the user device 104, and the cost associated therewith (particularly with regard to wireless communication costs).

The incremental update operation takes place on both the IPS 102 and the user device 104. These two operations occur independently of each other, but these operations also complement each other. FIGS. 27 and 28 describe the incremental update procedure from the standpoint of the IPS 102, while FIG. 29 describes the incremental update operation from the standpoint of the user device 104.

Starting with FIG. 26, this figure shows an overview of one scenario in which it may be appropriate to perform an incremental update. In this case, the user has subscribed to receive a feed. A feed corresponds to a collection of informational parts which are supplied to the user at predetermined times (e.g., hourly) or in response to other triggering events. Consider, for example, the case of a feed which provides headline news stories. Such a feed may forward a list of the top ten news stories every hour. If a collection at time n has prescribed reference content, then a collection at time n+1 may be viewed as a later “version” of the content at time n.

One version of a feed may contain one or more parts that are shared in common with an immediately prior version of the feed. In the case of a news feed, the top ten news stories at 2:00 PM on a particular day may include many of the same news stories identified at 1:00 PM. And perhaps all of the news stories may be the same. In this circumstance, it is desirable to download only the delta version of 2:00 PM news feed. The delta version of the news feed identifies only those parts of the 2:00 PM news feed which are different than the 1:00 PM news feed. A current version of content may differ from a prior version of the content in at least two respects. First, a current version of the content may add one or more parts that are not present in a prior version of the content. Second, a current version of the content may, in addition or alternatively, remove one or more parts that are present in a prior version of the content.

FIG. 26 represents an evolution in a sequence of content, from version V₁ to version V₄. Version V₄ represents a current version of the content at a most current point in time. In version V₁, the content includes base part A₁ and supplemental part A₂. In version V₂, the content includes base part A₁ and supplemental parts A₂ and A₃. In version V₃, the content includes base part A₁ and supplemental parts A₂, A₃, and A₄. Finally, in version V₄, the content includes base part A_(l) and supplemental part A₃ and A₄, yet now omits part A₂ which was present in version V₃.

The illustrative strategy adopted by one implementation of the incremental update procedure is to compile, in advance, delta files which express the difference between the current version (e.g., V₄) and each prior version. For instance a first delta file expresses the difference between version V₄ and version V₃. This delta file consists of simply an indication that part A₂ has been removed. A second delta file expresses the difference between version V₄ and version V₂. This delta file consists of an instruction that part A₂ has been removed, together with the information contained in part A₄ (which has been added, relative to version V₂). A third delta file expresses the difference between version V₄ and V₁. This delta file consists of an instruction that part A₂ has been removed, together with the information corresponding to parts A₃ and A₄ (which were added, relative to version V₁). In the delta files, the parts that have been omitted need not be reproduced; a reference to the omitted parts will suffice.

In an application phase of the incremental update procedure, the content delivery module 316 determines the identity of the item that the user is requesting and determines whether the user has a prior version of the requested content, such as version V₃, version V₂, version V₁, etc. Without limitation, in one case, the user device 104 may inform the content delivery module 316 of the version of the content that it possesses (if any) in header information included in the requests that it sends to the IPS 102. The content delivery module 316 first makes an attempt to access the delta file which expresses the difference between the current version of the requested content and the device version of the requested content. If this delta file may be obtained, and if it is determined that it is more efficient to send the delta file as opposed to the whole file, then the content delivery module 316 sends the delta file, rather than the entire requested item. Else, the content delivery module 316 sends the entire requested item. As mentioned, the user device 104 performs a parallel analysis, first requesting a delta file. If the user device 104 does not receive and successfully process the delta file in due course, it may ask for a full version of the requested item.

FIGS. 27-29 formalize the above explanation in flowchart form. Starting with FIG. 27, this figure illustrates a procedure 2700 for forming delta files. This operation may be performed by the IPS's content delivery module 316 as a background process, and, in particular, by the incremental update module 2304 shown in FIG. 23.

In block 2702, the content delivery module 316 makes note of the receipt of a new version of content, such as a new edition of a feed, a new edition of a newspaper item, and so on.

In block 2704, the content delivery module 316 forms a series of delta files, expressing the difference between the current version V. and a series of prior versions, V_(n-1), V_(n-2), V_(n-3), and so forth. The content delivery module 316 may apply various rules to determine how many delta files it should compute. In one case, the delivery module 316 may cap the number of delta files at a predetermined number. Recall that the objective is to download a requested item to the user in the most efficient manner. As such, in another case, the delivery module 316 may stop forming delta files when it determines that the delta file becomes so large and/or complex that it may be more efficient to download the entire item rather than a delta file. The content delivery module 316 may store the delta files in a delta file store 2306 (shown in FIG. 23). The delta files may be stored with their corresponding full items or otherwise linked to their corresponding full items by reference information.

In block 2706, the content delivery module 316 may remove any delta files from a previous iteration that are no longer relevant. For instance, in a previous iteration of the procedure, the version V_(n-1) was the most current version of the item, and all of the delta files were compiled with reference to this version. In one implementation, the content delivery module 316 may delete all of these stale delta files, based on the presumption that the user will want the most current version of the requested item.

FIG. 28 shows a procedure 2800 which represents the application phase of the incremental update procedure, in which a user device makes a specific request for an item, corresponding to requested content. The incremental update module 2394 of the content delivery module 316 may be used to perform the procedure 2800.

In block 2802, the content delivery module 316 receives a request for an item. The content delivery module 316 may determine whether the user device 104 has a prior version V_(k) of the requested content through various mechanisms, such as by reading the version information from a header of the user device's HTTP requests.

In block 2804, the content delivery module 316 attempts to access a delta file corresponding to the difference between the current version V_(n) and the device's version V_(k). In one case, the content delivery module 316 may make n attempts to access this delta file, such as, without limitation, 3 attempts.

If the content delivery module 316 is successful in accessing the delta file (as determined in block 2806), it may provide the delta file in lieu of the full version. Namely, in block 2810, the content delivery module 316 sends the delta file as opposed to the full item. Otherwise, in block 2812, the content delivery module 316 sends the entire item.

The above-described manner of operation is based on the assumption that the delta-forming procedure 2700 of FIG. 27 is operative to store delta files for only those cases in which it deems it more efficient to transmit a delta file, rather than the entire version. In this case, if procedure 2800 does not find a corresponding delta file, it proceeds by immediately accessing and downloading the full version. In other cases, the determination of whether it is more efficient to send the delta file as opposed to the entire version may be performed as part of the download process of FIG. 28, e.g., as indicated by the optional decision block 2808. Regardless of what juncture the delta-vs-full decision is made, this decision may be based on a number of factors:

-   -   First, the size of the delta file relative to the entire item is         relevant. If the delta file is larger than the entire item, then         it makes no sense to transmit the delta file in lieu of the         entire item. In this case, the content delivery module 316 will         decide to transmit the entire file.     -   Second, the decision process may take into consideration the         fact that the entire item may be better compressed (and/or         encrypted) compared to the delta file. Thus, in determining         relative size, the decision process may examine the compressed         size of the delta file relative to the compressed size of the         entire item.     -   Third, there is a finite amount of item required to patch the         delta file into a pre-existing version at the user device, and         to perform other operations that are uniquely associated with         processing the delta file (as opposed to the entire item). The         decision process may choose to take these time lag         considerations into account when deciding whether it is more         efficient to transmit the delta file as opposed to the entire         item.

FIG. 29 shows a procedure 2900 which sets forth a complementary incremental update operation performed by the user device 104. The incremental update module 2110 and error handling module 2112 of FIG. 21 may be used to perform this procedure 2900.

In block 2902, the user device 104, as a default rule, attempts to access a delta file version of a requested item. If successful, the user device 104 attempts to patch the delta file into the version of the content that it currently possesses. The user device 104 may optional make a predetermined number n of attempts to perform this operation.

In block 2904, the user device 104 determines whether or not it is successful in obtaining the requested item as a delta file patch. If it is successful, the process ends. If it is not successful, in block 2906, the user device 104 may request the entire item. The user device 106 may apply other considerations (rather than, or in addition to, success/failure-type considerations) in determining whether to download a delta file or a full item.

To repeat, the server-side content delivery module 316 may perform its incremental updating operation (as per procedure 2800) in parallel with the user device 104, which performs its own incremental updating operation (as per procedure 2900). Either the IPS 102 or the user device 104 may decide to abandon its attempts to retrieve the delta file version of the requested item.

B.5. Delivery Management Functionality

B.5.a. Overview of the Delivery Management Functionality

In the examples developed above, the IPS 102 operates by receiving an item, adding an entry to an appropriate to-do queue (in the case of a subscription-related item), and then sending out a TPH signal to notify the user device to access the entry and subsequently download the corresponding item. This section describes various management functions designed to make this general process more efficient and/or to achieve other goals.

FIG. 30 shows a collection of content delivery management features 3000. A first feature corresponds to reliable fulfillment functionality 3002. The reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 operates by performing delivery-related processing in advance of the point in time at which an item is ready to be delivered to a user device. Such prefatory processing may comprise adding an entry to the device's to-do queue prior to the point in time at which the item is ready to be delivered.

A second feature corresponds to TPH scheduling functionality 3004. The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 generally attempts to schedule the transmission of TPH signals to reduce the power consumed by the user device 104. More specifically, it is relatively expensive (from the standpoint of the consumption of power) for a user device wake up and act on a TPH signal (e.g., by receiving entries from a to-do queue and downloading items, etc.). In one representative case, such an event consumes about 1 percent of the total capacity of the battery life. To address this situation, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may not send a TPH signal for every reportable addition made to the to-do queue, but rather, combine multiple reportable events together and send out a single TPH signal. The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 applies other considerations in determining when and how to send out TPH signals, as will be described in greater detail below. In one implementation, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may be implemented as a feature of the notification module 1808.

A third feature corresponds to late notice functionality 3006, also known as paperboy functionality. The late notice functionality 3006 determines that a publisher is late in providing a subscription-related item to the IPS 102. In response, the late notice functionality 3006 may identify all of the recipients of the item. The late notice functionality 3006 may prepare and send out personalized late notices to the recipients.

A fourth feature corresponds to subscription initiation functionality 3008. The subscription initiation functionality refrains from starting the subscription until the user first turns on the device and contacts the IPS 102. This provision may apply to both fee-based and free subscriptions.

The above-enumerated list of features is representative and is not exhaustive of the types of functions performed by the IPS 102. As indicated by the label “Other Coordination Functionality” 3010, the IPS 102 may include additional management features. The IPS 102 may also omit or disable one or more of the features shown in FIG. 30.

The following subsections describe each of the features in greater detail.

B.5.b. Illustrative Reliable Fulfillment Functionality

FIG. 31 is a flowchart which shows a procedure 3100 for implementing the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002, introduced above.

In block 3102, the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 receives a triggering event which commences the reliable fulfillment processing. The event may correspond to the receipt of a subscription-related item, and so on.

In block 3104, the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 performs prefatory processing in preparation for sending out a TPH signal to one or more devices which are registered to receive the item. In one case, the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 may store an entry in the to-do queue associated with a device which is scheduled to receive the item. At the time that the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 adds the entry to the to-do queue, the content reception module 302 may be converting the item, so that, at this time, the item is not yet ready to be forwarded to the user device. To prevent the to-do list server module 314 from prematurely sending out a TPH signal upon adding an entry to a queue, the entry may be tagged with a flag which identifies it as not ready to be sent. This mechanism may also optionally effectively conceal the entry from the list of entries that the device sees when it requests entries as part of the download process (e.g., in block 2204 of FIG. 22).

In block 3106, the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 allows the TPH signal to be sent to the recipient device when the item is ready to be sent. In the case of the above-described subscription-related item, the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 determines when the content reception system 302 is finished converting the content and storing it in the content store 308. At this time, the reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 may change the status of the entry in the to-do queue to indicate that a TPH signal may be sent to the user device.

The reliable fulfillment functionality 3002 may perform other types of prefatory actions. In general, the prefatory actions expedite the delivery of items, as these operations may be performed in parallel with other operations and/or when the parts of the IPS 102 are otherwise idle or not fully engaged.

B.5.c. Illustrative Late Notice Functionality

FIG. 31 is a flowchart which shows a procedure 3200 for implementing the late notice functionality 3006, introduced above. The procedure 3200 is described with respect to a particular subscription-related item, but the procedure 3200 may be repeated in aggregate for a collection of subscription-related items and/or other types of items.

In block 3202, the late notice functionality 3006 determines that a publisher or other source is late in providing a subscription-related item to the IPS 102. Or the late notice functionality 3006 may determine that there is some other source of delay with respect to an item. The late notice functionality 3006 may make this determination based on information regarding when an item is normally received. Such information may be expressed by manually-entered timing information. If the late notice functionality 3006 determines that a predetermined amount of time has elapsed beyond the expected receipt of the item, then it may identify the item as being late. The late notice functionality 3006 may glean information regarding the expected receipt of an item from various sources, such as from the administrators of the IPS 102, from the publisher itself, and so on. Alternatively, or in addition, the late notice functionality 3006 may compile empirical norms which reflect the typical timing at which the item is received and processed. In making lateness determinations, the late notice functionality 3006 may take into consideration the time zones in which user devices receive content. For example, a first late threshold may apply to a user who is operating his user device on the East Coast of the United States, while a second late threshold may apply to a user who is operating his device on the West Coast. The difference in thresholds may account for the fact that there may be less time to react to a delayed delivery on the East coast compared to the West coast. More specifically, assume that a newspaper normally arrives at 4:00 AM, East Coast time. A delay in delivery is more of a concern for East Coast users than West Coast users because the East Coast users will be waking before the West Coast users and expecting to receive their newspapers with breakfast.

In block 3204, assuming that it is determined that an item is late, the late notice functionality 3006 may send out a late notice to each user who is scheduled to receive this item. The late notice functionality 3006 may consult the subscription module 310 to determine the set of users who are scheduled to receive the item. The late notice functionality may optionally personalize the late notices provided to users, such as by inserting the users' names into placeholder fields in a generic late notice message. The late notice message may also be customized to identify the name of the late publication, the date of the late issue, and so on.

In block 3206, the late notice functionality 3006 sends out the late notices to appropriate users. The late notice functionality 3006 may take into consideration the respective time zones of subscribers by sending out late notices at appropriate times.

In one case, the late notice functionality 3006 may send the late notices as documents, e.g., like any other type of items described above. The late notice functionality 3006 may deliver the late notices by adding GET-type entries in appropriate to-do queues. In another implementation, the late notice functionality 3006 may send special commands in the to-do queues. These commands prompt the user devices, upon receipt of the commands, to display an appropriate pop-up message or the like, informing the users that the items will be delivered late. The late delivery module 3006 may optionally send a staggered series of late messages upon continued failure to deliver the item, with each message including an appropriate escalation of apologies, remedies, and the like.

In block 3208, when (and if) the late issue is delivered, the late notice functionality 3006 may remove the late notice item from the user devices (e.g., by sending a DEL-type command to the user devices via corresponding to-do queues). This provision gives the IPS 102 an opportunity to avoid confusion for a user who opens her device to see both a delivered item and a notification that the item is late.

B.5.d. Illustrative Telephone Home (TPH) Functionality

FIG. 33 is a flowchart which shows a procedure 3300 for implementing the TPH scheduling functionality 3004, introduced above. Recall that one illustrative goal of the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 is to schedule TPH signals to reduce the number of times that a user device needs to power on, receive the TPH signals, and download entries and items. The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 achieves this result, in part, by aggregating multiple TPH signals into a single TPH signal based on various rules, and/or by adjusting the timing when TPH signals are sent out. The procedure 3300 will be described with respect to an illustrative to-do queue associated with a particular user device, although the operations set forth here may be performed for a plurality of to-do queues and associated user devices. In one implementation, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may be implemented as a feature of the notification module 1808.

In block 3302, it is assumed that a user's to-do queue contains at least one entry. If so, in block 3302, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 determines whether it is appropriate to send a TPH signal to the user device, or to defer such a message until some time later. The to-do list server module 314 may refrain from sending a TPH signal for an entry in a to-do queue by flagging this entry with a non-send status. The status may be changed when the to-do list server module 304 wishes to send out the TPH signal.

In making its decision, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may rely on any one of the following considerations or any combination of the following considerations. Many of the considerations include aspects which intersect with other considerations.

-   -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may consider one or more         time-related factors in deciding when to send a TPH signal, such         as time-of-day information. For instance, the TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may be more willing to send a TPH signal         during the daytime hours rather than at night if it is likely         that the user is already using the device 104 during the day; in         this case, sending the TPH signal may not cause the device to         power up, since the device may already be powered up. On the         other hand, the TPH scheduling functionality may be more willing         to send a TPH signal during the night rather than the day if         there is a significant cost savings to conducting wireless         communication at night, rather than during the day. In another         application of time-related considerations, the TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may be configured to send a single TPH signal         every t interval of time, such as every half hour, every hour,         and so on (providing that at least one TPH-sending event has         been registered in the interval t).     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may consider the type of         item as significant in determining when to send a TPH item. For         instance, a user who expressly purchases an eBook is likely to         be relatively interested in receiving this item soon after his         or her purchase, since the user made an express request for the         item, and furthermore, this express action is a recent event. On         the other hand, a recipient of a journal or blog may be less         concerned with receiving an issue immediately after it becomes         available, as there is less compelling evidence that the user         remains actively interested in this material. As such, the TPH         scheduling functionality 302 may send a TPH item for the eBook         soon after the user makes a purchase. But the TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may delay sending the TPH signal upon the         automated reception of a subscription-related item. More         generally stated, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may         assign different priorities to item types. The TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may then consider the priority of the items         in a to-do queue as one factor in determining how quickly to         send out a TPH signal. To cite another example, upgrade         functionality at the IPS 102 may add an entry to a device's         to-do queue that instructs the device to download an         instruction-bearing update. This entry may be earmarked as a         very high priority item, demanding that a TPH signal be sent         immediately.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also consider the         length of time that an entry has been stored in a to-do queue in         determining when to send a TPH signal. The TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may not wish to delay sending out a TPH         signal for too great an amount of time.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also consider the         prior behavior exhibited by the user in determining whether to         download a TPH signal. More specifically, in one case, the TPH         scheduling functionality 3304 may consider the aggregate         behavior of many users, based on the presumption that this         behavior may likewise apply to a particular user. In another         case, the TPH scheduling functionality may alternatively, or in         addition, consider the unique behavior of a particular user. To         cite one example, a particular user may have unique patterns of         behavior, such that the user operates her user device at one         time of day but not another. The TPH scheduling functionality         3004 may also identify patterns in the types of actions that the         user typically performs in the course of a day. Based on these         considerations, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may send a         TPH signal during a time at which the user is expected to be         already using the device, and thus operating the device in a         powered-up state. According to another example, users generally,         considered in aggregate, may wish to receive certain types of         content at certain times of day. For instance, users may wish to         read newspapers before leaving for work. In this case, the TPH         scheduling functionality 3004 may attempt to send THPs prior to         5:00 AM, but the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 need not         otherwise send TPH signals throughout the night while the users         are presumed to be sleeping.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also collect         information regarding a user's current use of the device 104.         For instance, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may         determine the user has plugged the user device 106 into a         permanent power source (such as an AC power outlet or the like).         The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 is more apt to send a TPH         signal to the user device if it may be determined that a user         has plugged the device 104 into a non-exhaustible source of         power. The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also receive         information which reveals the battery level of the user device         104. The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may be more reluctant         to send a TPH signal if the battery state of the device is low.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also consider the         amount of entries stored in the to-do queue. The TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may be more apt to send a TPH signal if the         user's to-do queue is becoming full with unreported entries. The         TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also consider a recent         rate of TPH-sending behavior.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also consider the         express preferences of a user, e.g., as entered by a user via a         setting-type page or the like.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also identify, for a         subscription-related item, whether the user has just purchased         the item. A user who has just purchased an item may be more         eager to receive an issue of this item, as opposed to a user who         has been regularly receiving issues for an extended period of         time.     -   The TPH scheduling functionality 3004 may also consider the size         of the item to be downloaded in determining the timing at which         to send a TPH signal. For example, the TPH scheduling         functionality 3004 may opt to send a TPH signal for a         particularly large item at night, such as to incur smaller         over-the-air download-related fees.     -   Still other considerations may have a bearing on the TPH         scheduling decision made by the TPH scheduling functionality         3004. As a related point, note that the user device 104 may be         configured such that it independently contacts the to-do server         module 314 in response to various events (e.g., without being         prompted to do so by a TPH signal), such as when the device         powers up for any reason, and so forth. The user device may then         download any entries in its queue that may be pending at that         time.

In block 3304, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 weights one or more of the above-identified factors in making a final decision whether or not to send a TPH signal. Different environments may apply different weights to these considerations, influencing which consideration may take precedence over other considerations. In one case, each user may also define the weights that apply to the sending of TPH signals, thereby controlling the relative importance of the various factors identified above.

In block 3306, the TPH scheduling functionality 3004 sends out a TPH signal, prompting the user device to retrieve the entries and download the corresponding items associated with the entries.

B.5.e. Illustrative Subscription Initiation Functionality

FIG. 34 is a flowchart which shows a procedure 3400 for implementing the subscription initiation functionality 3008, introduced above.

In block 3402, the subscription initiation functionality 3008 determines that the user has purchased a new subscription.

In block 3404, the subscription initiation functionality 3008 delays charging the user for issues or editions of the subscription until the user actually begins downloading subscription-related items, or in response to some other consumption trigger. This measure is, in part, a courtesy to the user.

B.6. Illustrative Home Presentation Module

The home presentation module 408 introduced in the context of FIG. 4 provides a home page through which a user may begin interacting with the user device 104. The home presentation module 408 may present a variety of information on the home page. FIG. 35 provides one illustrative implementation of a home page 3502. The home page 3502 of FIG. 35 shows a list of various items that a user may consume using the reading device, including eBooks, audio books, personal items, subscription-related items, and so forth. Each entry in the home page 3502 includes the salient information regarding the item, such as the title of the item, the author of an eBook-type item, and so forth. Each entry includes a selector (along the right edge of the page 3502) that serves as a guide for selecting the corresponding item, thereby opening the item for viewing. A special grouping type selector 3504 indicates that the item corresponds to a subscription. By clicking on this item, the user may view a list of available issues within the subscription. Further, each entry in the home page includes a progress indicator, such as progress indicator 3506. The number of dots in the progress indicator 3506 identifies how far the user has advanced in reading the item, relative to a total length of the indicator.

The home page 3502 also includes a “Show and Sort” selection item. By clicking on this entry, the user may receive a Show and Sort menu (not shown). This menu allows the user to select a filtering criterion (or criteria) that is (or are) used to select items for presentation in the home page 3502. The user may also select a sorting criterion (or criteria) that is (or are) used to govern the order in which items are displayed on the home page 3502.

The home page 3502 also includes a menu selector 3502. Selecting the menu selector 3502 prompts the user device 104 to present the menu 3602 shown in FIG. 36. The menu 3602 allows the user to navigate to various functions performed by the user device and perform specialized tasks. One such function that may be selected via the menu 3602 is a setting option 3604.

By activating the setting option 3604 shown in FIG. 36, the user device 104 directs the user to a settings page 3702, shown in FIG. 37. The settings page allows the user to change various administrative settings associated with the device (such as account name, device name, etc.), as well as change various settings that govern the manner of operation of the device. The settings page 3702 also reveals the amount of storage available to store additional items.

B.7. Illustrative Merchant Store Module

B.7.a. Overview of the Merchant Store Module

FIG. 38 shows the merchant store module 318, introduced in the context of FIG. 3. By way of overview, the merchant store module 318 allows the user to search for items, purchase (or otherwise acquire) selected items, and so forth. The user interacts with the merchant store module 318 via a store interaction module 344 provided by the user device 104. The user may also interact with the merchant store module 318 via one or more alternative mechanisms, such as by using a personal computer which accesses the merchant store module 318 via a non-wireless communication mechanism (e.g., telephone or cable modem, DSL mechanism, etc.).

The merchant store module 318 includes an account administration and set-up module 3802. This module 3802 allows the user to set up a user account and perform other administrative functions.

The merchant store module 318 also includes or has access to user information 3804. The user information 3804 may provide demographic information regarding the users. The user information 3804 may also provide information regarding the prior purchases and other types of selections made by the users.

The merchant store module 318 may include an item catalog 320. The item catalog 320 may include descriptions of various items that may be selected using the merchant store module 318. A description of an item in the item catalog 320 may take the form of an item detail page.

The merchant store module 318 may include Item Review and Acquisition (IRA) functionality 3806. The IRA functionality 3806, in turn, may include a catalog search and presentation module 3808; this module 3808 allows the user to review items in the item catalog 320 by entering search terms, viewing browse categories, and so on. The IRA functionality 3806 also includes an item recommendation module 3810. The IRA functionality 3806 presents one or more recommended items to the user, e.g., based on the user's prior interests (e.g., as reflected in the user information store 3804), or based on generally popular items, and so on.

The IRA functionality 3806 also may include an item purchase module 3810. The item purchase module 3812 allows the user to place items in a shopping chart and purchase (or otherwise acquire) the items. The item purchase module 3810, in turn, may include a buy rescind module 3814. The buy rescind module allows the user to rescind an item purchase in the manner described more fully below. The item purchase module 3810 may also include a virtual account module 3816. As will be described in greater detail below (in Section D), the virtual account module 3816 allows the user to make item purchases after the user has purchased (or otherwise arranged to receive) a user device, but at this point in time, the user has not yet been assigned a particular user device.

The IRA functionality 3806 may include yet additional modules, as indicated by the label which reads, “Other Store Modules” 3818. Other implementations of the merchant store module 318 may omit one or more modules shown in FIG. 38.

The merchant store module 318 may include a device interface module 3820. The device interface module 3820 generally includes functionality which allows the server-side merchant store 318 to interact with the device-side store interaction module 344. The device interface module includes a markup presentation module 3822. The markup presentation module 3822 provides a series of pages (e.g., such as representative page 3824) to the user device. The pages may be formulated in any markup language or any other format. The device presentation interface module 3820 may also include a device response processing module 3826. The device response processing module 3826 receives responses from the users who interact with the pages provided by the markup presentation module 3822. For example, the users may select links in pages provided by the markup presentation module 3822. The user's selections are conveyed back to device response processing module 3826 using the HTTP protocol or some other protocol or combination of protocols.

FIGS. 39-41 show a representative collection of pages produced by the markup presentation module 3822. FIG. 39 shows an introductory page 3902, which the markup presentation module 3820 may display to the user when the user first accesses the merchant store module 318. The introductory page 3902 provides a portal which invites the user to explore various browse categories, review recommended items, enter a search, and so on. FIG. 40 shows a browse page 4002. The browse page 4002 allows the user to browse for items using various subject-matter categories. FIG. 41 shows an item detail presentation 4102, which provides information regarding a single eBook item that the user may purchase through the item purchase module 3812. In the case in which the item detail information cannot fit onto one page, the markup presentation module 3820 may display this information in a series of pages, as indicated in FIG. 40.

B.7.b. Illustrative Approach to Rescinding a Purchase

FIG. 42 shows a flowchart which depicts an illustrative procedure 4200 for rescinding a purchase using the buy rescind module 3814 of FIG. 38.

In block 4202, the item purchase module 3812 receives the user's purchase of an item. The user may make the purchase by making a selection which initiates a fulfillment operation.

In block 4204, the IPS 102 processes and potentially delivers the purchased item to the user's device in the manner described above.

In block 4206, the buy rescind module 3814 presents an option to the user which invites the user to rescind her purchase made in block 4302. In one case, the buy rescind module 3814 may present this option in a “thank you” page or the like, which is provided to the user following the purchase of the item. At this stage, as indicated by the prior block 4204, the item purchase module 3812 is in the course of fulfilling the user's purchase of the item.

In block 4208, it is assumed that the user does in fact activate the buy rescind option.

In block 4210 the buy rescind module 3814 rescinds the user's purchase of the item, if possible.

B.8. Illustrative Content Manager Module and Media Library Module

The device-side content manager module 342 provides a tool that allows the user to review and manage items that are available for consumption by the user device 104. FIG. 44 shows additional detail regarding the content manager 342. FIG. 44 also illustrates the manner in which the content manager 342 may interact with other modules, such as the server-side personal media library module 324 and the subscription module 310.

The content manager module 342 includes a presentation module 4302. The presentation module 4302 shows various items available for the user to consume using the user device 104. The items may originate from various sources. A first source corresponds to the user device's internal device memory 336. A second source corresponds to a portable memory module 4304 that may be coupled to the user device 104, such as a flash card or the like. A third source corresponds to items identified in the user's server-side personal media library module 324. More specifically, the content manager module 342 may receive information from the media library module 324 regarding on-demand (“a la carte”) selections, such as eBook items, specifically-selected newspaper and magazine issues, and so on. A fourth source corresponds to items identified in the subscription module 310. More specifically, the content manager module 342 may provide information regarding the user's subscriptions and the latest issues associated with those subscriptions. In regards to subscriptions, in one illustrative case, the content manager module 342 may store the last n days for each of the user's subscriptions.

In one illustrative implementation, the content manager module 342 has access to device-side metadata that identifies the items stored on the personal media library module 324 and/or the subscription module 310. This avoids the need for the user to make on-demand queries to these server-side modules to determine their contents.

According to another feature, the presentation module 4302 includes a filtering module 4306. The filtering module 4306 allows the user to select a criterion (or criteria) for use in determining what types of items are displayed by the presentation module 4302. For instance, the user may opt to restrict the presentation to only items stored in the device-side internal memory 336, and so on.

The content manager module 342 also includes an update processing module 4308. The purpose of the update processing module 4308 is to update the device-side metadata that describes the contents of the personal media library module 324. The update module 4308 may be invoked at various times when the user device and IPS 102 interact with each other for any reason. For example, the update module 4308 may be invoked as part of the collection of operations that are triggered by the receipt of a TPH signal.

Referring now to the personal media library module 324, this module 324 stores items that the user has previously purchased in a la carte fashion. More specifically, the personal media item library 324 may store pointers 4308 which reference the items in the merchant content store 308 that the user has purchased. In the manner described above, the user may receive a previously-purchased item via the content delivery module 316, which, in turn, contacts may the personal media library module 324 to verify that the user is indeed authorized to receive the requested item. The user may decide to download an item again for any reason, such as in the case in which the content was inadvertently deleted from the user's device local store(s).

The user may download subscription-related items in a similar manner. Namely, the content delivery module 316 accesses the subscription module 324 to determine whether the user is authorized to download an issue or the like. Permission information provided by the subscription module 324 is performed on the level of subscriptions, rather than individual issues within a subscription.

FIG. 44 shows a content manager page 4402 provided by the presentation module 4302 of the content manager page 4402. This page 4402 shows various items that are available for the user to consume using the user device 104. The page 4402 also provides tags which indicate the source of the items, such as “Merchant” to indicate that the item is available via the personal media library module 324, “Device,” to indicate that the item is stored in the device-side memory 336, and “SD Card” to indicate that the item is stored on a removable memory module, and so on. Although not shown in FIG. 43, the content manager page 4402 may provide indicators which reveal whether an item is in the process of being downloaded to the user device 104, and/or the item is undergoing other processing, etc.

FIG. 45 shows another content manager page that includes a filtering menu 4502. The filtering menu 4502 is used by the filtering module 4304 to control what types of items are displayed (corresponding to selected sources, etc.), and in what order the items are displayed.

FIG. 46 shows another content manager page that shows another menu 4602. Among other functions, this menu 4602 allows the user to move items from one source to another source, remove items, and so on.

FIG. 47 shows a procedure 4700 which illustrates how the user device 104 and the IPS 102 share information.

In block 4702, one or more modules in the system 300 receive a triggering event. The triggering event signals that it is time for various housekeeping operations, such as the sharing of information between the user device 104 and the IPS 102. One representative triggering event may correspond to the sending of a TPH signal from the IPS 102 to the user device 104, which initiates a host of operations, including an information synchronization operation. Another triggering event may correspond to the powering up of the user device 104 or other change in state of the user device 104, and so forth.

In block 4702, one or more appropriate modules in the system 300 share information which one or more other modules for the purpose of synchronization. To name one example, block 4702 may entail the user device 104 sending its annotations that a user has created for a particular item to the IPS 102, for storage in a backup annotation store 1116. Further, block 4702 may entail the personal media library module 324 sending metadata down to the content manager module 342, where such metadata reflects the items that are referenced by the personal media library module 324. Still other information-sharing operations may be performed upon various triggering events.

In addition to the above periodic synchronization operations, the IPS 102 can interact with the user device 104 to restore the contents of the user device 104 when the stored content of the user device 104 is no longer accessible, e.g., because the user has invoked a hard reset command, etc.

B.9. Illustrative Reader Module, Annotation Functionality, and Audio Player Module

Recall that the reader module 340, introduced in the context of FIG. 3, provides an interface that allows a user to read an eBook. FIG. 48 shows one page 4802 of text content produced by the reader module 340, corresponding to the novel Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. The user may change the size of the font through an appropriate menu (not shown). The user may view his or her progress through the book via a progress display 4804. The number of dots in the progress display, relative to the total length of the display, reflects how far the user has advanced into the book.

Any page of readable content may include one or more embedded links that may be activated. Note, for instance, button 4806 in page 4802. In this case, the reading material being displayed by the reader module 340 corresponds to a sample of a more complete item, such as a chapter of a book. The page 4802 includes a button 4806 that invites the user to select the full version of the item. In another implementation, the button 4806 may invite the user to purchase another portion of the item (such as another chapter in a book, another issue in a magazine series, and so forth). In another case, a link may identify an item that is related to the content being presently displayed based on one or more matching considerations; for example, item recommendation module 3810 of FIG. 38 may identify a related item based on various matching considerations. Clicking on the button 4806 directs the merchant store module 318 to purchase (or otherwise acquire) and initiate delivery of an identified item, e.g., in the illustrated case, a full version of content being read by the user in page 4802.

FIG. 49 shows a flowchart which depicts an illustrative procedure 4900 for dynamically supplying item identification information when a user activates a link in a page.

In block 4902, the user device 104 provides a presentation that includes a link, such as page 4802 that includes button 4806. The user device 104 may use a template to display the page. The template may include provisions for presenting the link, but does not associate the link with any kind of code which uniquely identifies a particular item. In other words, the page includes a placeholder field in place of the actual code.

More specifically, recall that, for certain types of items, the content reception system 302 stores the items in the content store 308 without formally integrating identification information with these items. When the content delivery module 316 delivers such an item to the user, it may inject the identification information into the header of the item (using the metadata injection module 2316). But, at this stage, the link inside the item still is not populated with identification information.

In block 4904, the user device 104 receives the user's selection of the link.

In block 4906, the user device 104 or some other entity may dynamically populate the link information so that it includes a unique identification information (e.g., a unique number) associated with the link. Consider the specific case in which, as indicated above, the page 4802 displays a sample of an item, and the button 4806 allows the user to access the full version of the item. When the user clicks on the button 4806, the device 104 may populate the link associated with the button 4806 with identification information associated with the full version of the item. The identification information is provided to the user device by the content delivery module 316, along with the sample item; for instance, the identification information may be conveyed in the header of the sample item. The populated link may then be invoked to perform an action, such as by accessing the merchant store module 318 to purchase a full version of the item, which initiates delivery of this item to the user.

FIG. 50 shows an annotation menu 5002 that the user may invoke in the course of reading an eBook. The user may invoke the menu 5002 to highlight a passage in the text, add a note associated with the text, and so on. The user may perform these operations using the cursor-moving mechanism 506 and/or using some other input mechanism(s). For instance, the user may demarcate a potion of a text to highlight by moving the cursor to corresponding beginning and ending locations in the supplemental display part 504 (e.g., by rotating a cursor wheel, etc.) and then selecting those locations (e.g., by pressing down on the cursor wheel, etc.).

Continuing with the theme of annotations, as shown in FIG. 48, the user may enter a bookmark by clicking next to a mark icon 4806 in the corner of the page 4802. Further, FIG. 51 shows a way to identify locations in an eBook which have been marked by the user. Namely, FIG. 51 shows a progress display. The small black triangles illustrate the location of user-created bookmarks within the text.

FIG. 52 shows various features associated with the audio player module 410 (introduced in FIG. 4) and the environment in which the audio player module 410 may operate. There are at least two mechanisms that the user device 104 may use to receive audio items. In a first mechanism, the user may use a personal computer 5202 or other type of data processing device to download an audio item from a source 5204 of audio items. In the first access mechanism, the personal computer 5202 may access the audio source 5204 via a non-wireless connection, such as a conventional telephone or cable modem, a DSL connection, a T1 connection, and so forth. Upon receipt, the user may then transfer the audio item to the user device 104 via a USB connection, portable memory module, or other transfer mechanism. In a second mechanism, the same communication infrastructure 106 that is shown in FIG. 2 may be used to receive an audio item from the audio source 5204 and then transfer this audio item to the user device 104. In other words, the communication infrastructure 106 transfers audio items in the same manner as eBook items and the like, where the audio source 5204 functions as one of the content sources 304 shown in FIG. 3. As explained, the communication infrastructure 106 may rely, at least in part, on wireless communication.

The audio source 5204 may represent a commercial supplier of audio items or other type of organization that supplies audio items on a fee-basis or on a non-fee-basis (e.g., including libraries, governmental organizations, etc.). In this context, the audio source 5204 may be accessible to the personal computer 5202 or other device as a WAN-accessible resource (e.g., as an Internet-accessible site or the like). The audio source 5204 may also represent a user or a community of users that supply audio items for dissemination to other users.

Upon receipt, the audio player module 410 may store the audio item in a background music file 5206 and/or an audio book file 5208. The audio player module 410 may be configured to play the audio items in the background music file 5206 as background music. For instance, the audio player module 410 may play an audio item in the background music file 5206 when the user is reading a newspaper, searching the web, and so on. In one case, audio player module 410 may play the audio items in the background music file 5206 in a random order. The audio player module 410 may provide controls that allow the user to access the background music file 5206, pause the playing of background music, skip to a next audio item in the random playlist, and so on.

The audio player module 410 may be configured to allow a user to interact with and consume audio items stored the audio books file 5208 in generally the same manner as textual content. For example, page 5210 shows one user interface page that allows a user to control the audio playback of an audio book. The audio player module 410 allows the user to move within the content of an audio item using various forward commands, back commands, etc. Further, the audio player module 410 stores the point in the audio item at which the user stopped listening; upon returning to the item at a later time, the audio player module 410 begins playing from this point onward. Other modules of the user device 410 may manage the audio item in the same banner as an eBook item. For example, the content manager module 342 may display metadata regarding an audio item in its list of available items (e.g., see the “Sun Also Rises” entry in FIG. 44).

B.10. Illustrative Web Browsing Functionality

FIG. 53 presents a simplified depiction of the system 200 of FIG. 2. In this simplified depiction, the device-side browser module 402 interacts with the item-providing system (IPS) 102 via a network 212, such as the Internet. The IPS 102 includes a browsing proxy module 326. The browser module 402 is first directed to the browsing proxy module 326 when it attempts to access one of the network-accessible resources 226. In this illustrative and representative manner, the device browser module is precluded from directly accessing the network-accessible resources (as indicated by the X mark shown in FIG. 53). It should be noted that the browser module 402 is only one way that the user device communicates with the IPS 102. The use of the browsing proxy module 326 does not affect other communication routes, such as the transfer protocol between the item delivery system 312 and the to-do list processing module, as well as the interaction between the merchant store module 318 and the device-side store interaction module 344.

The IPS 102 may establish different business rules to govern the user's access to “external” network-accessible resources. In one case, the IPS may discriminate between a first class of non-fee resources 5302 for which it does not charge a fee (or charges a relatively smaller fee), and a second class of fee resources 5304 for which it charges a fee (or charges a relatively larger fee).

FIG. 54 shows a procedure 5400 which represents one illustrative way of governing access to network-accessible resources using the browsing proxy module 326.

In block 5402, the browsing proxy module 326 receives a user's request to connect to a network-accessible resource, such as a website or the like.

In block 5404, the browsing proxy module 326 determines whether the site that the user wishes to connect to corresponds to the services provided by the IPS 102 itself. If this is the case, then, in block 5406, the browsing proxy module 326 grants the user access to the requested resources.

If block 5404 is answered in the negative (meaning that the user is not attempt to gain access to the IPS 102 itself), the flow advances to block 5408, where the browsing proxy module 326 determines whether the user is attempting to gain access to one or more of the designed non-fee (or reduced fee) resources 5302. If this is the case, then, in block 5406, the browsing proxy module 326 grants the user access the requested resources (in block 5406).

If block 5408 is answered in the negative (meaning that the user is not attempt to gain access to the IPS 102 or a free resource 5302), the flow advances to block 5410, where the browsing proxy module 326 determines whether the user is attempting to gain access to one or more of the designated fee resources 5304. If this is the case, then, in block 5412, the browsing proxy module 326 next determines whether the user has paid or has agreed to pay the required fee. If this block 5412 is answered in the affirmative, the browsing proxy module 326 assesses appropriate fees (in block 5414) and then grants the user access the requested resources (in block 5406). In one case, the system 300 may be set up so that the user may pay a fee for each item that the user wishes to access, e.g., on a per-access basis. In another case, the system 300 may be set up so that the user may pay a fee to access any number of items for a predetermined amount of time (such as a day, week, etc.). In any case, the user may be given the option of automatically accepting access-related fees when the user makes an access attempt, e.g., without querying the user each time he or she wishes to access an item.

If none of the conditions set forth above is satisfied, then, in block 5416, the browsing proxy module 326 denies the user access to the requested resource.

FIG. 55 illustrates a bookmark page 5502 (also known as a favorites page) that may be provided by the device browser module 402. The page 5502 includes a list of links. The user may click on any link to connect to a corresponding network accessible resource.

FIG. 56 shows a menu 5602 that the device browser module 402 may use to enter network addresses, such as URLs, using the user device 104.

C. Illustrative Administrative-Related Functionality

C.1. Overview of Functionality

This section provides information regarding various administrative or backend tasks that may be performed using the system set forth in Sections A and B. One administrative function pertains to monitoring the performance of various aspects of the system. Another administrative function pertains to testing the operation of the system. Another administrative function pertains to diagnosing problems or other issues that may be present in the system. Another administrative function pertains to upgrading the instruction-bearing content (e.g., software) used by the user device 104. The above-described functions may intersect. For example, the testing and diagnosing functions may rely on the performance-monitoring function. The upgrade-related function may rely on the testing and diagnosing functions to determine whether an instruction upgrade is appropriate.

FIG. 57 provides a simplified depiction of the system 200 introduced in FIG. 2. This system 200 is used as a vehicle to explain the various administrative functions described above. However, the administrative functions described here may also be implemented using other types of systems.

The system 200 allows an item-providing system (IPS) 202 to interact with a user device 104 via communication infrastructure. The communication infrastructure includes a wireless provider system 202 and a communication-enabling system 208. The communication-enabling system 208 interacts with the IPS 102 via a network 212, such as a wide area network (WAN), and, more particularly, the Internet.

The system 200 implements the various administrative functions described above at various levels, as will be described below.

C.2. Illustrative Performance Monitoring, Testing, and Diagnosing Functionality

FIG. 57 illustrates that various parts of the system 200 may monitor the performance of the system 200, from respective “vantage points.” For instance, the user device may include a device-side performance logging module 5702 for recording various events associated with the performance of the system 200, with respect to performance issues that are visible to the user device 104. The device-side performance logging module 5702 may store performance information in a performance log 416 (introduced in the context of FIG. 4).

The wireless provider system 202 may likewise include a performance logging module 5704 for recording various events associated with the performance of the system 200, with respect to performance issues that are visible to the wireless provider system 202. The performance logging module 5704 may store performance information in a performance log 5706.

The communication-enabling system 208 may likewise include a performance logging module 5708 for recording various events associated with the performance of the system 200, with respect to performance issues that are visible to the communication-enabling system 208. The performance logging module 5708 may store performance information in a performance log 5710.

The IPS 102 may include a customer service module 5712 for performing various functions. As a first function, the IPS 102 may also independently record various events and store such events in an IPS-side performance log 5714. Further, the customer service module 5712 may obtain any of the performance information collected by the user device 104, the wireless provider system 202, and/or the communication-enabling system 208. In one particular case, the customer service module 5712 automatically collects performance information from different parts of the system 200. In another case, the customer server module 5712 may make on-demand targeted inquires into different aspects of the system 200, querying the performance information collected by the user device 104, wireless provider system 202, and/or the communication enabling system 208. For instance, a user may call a customer service representative to identify a problem with receiving a download in a particular region of a country. The customer service representative may examine the performance information provided by any part of the system to help uncover the source of the problem.

In addition, an administrator at the IPS 102 may proactively test various parts of the system 200. For instance, the IPS 102 may include a server-side testing module 5716. The server-side testing module 5716 may be used to periodically send test signals to a set of test user devices, requesting the test user device to respond. Or the testing module 5716 may send the testing signals to the test user devices in an on-demand manner. A test user device may include a complementary test module 5718 for receiving and responding to such a test signal. (Note that, collectively, the device-side performance logging module 5702 and the device-side testing module 5718 correspond to the monitoring and testing functionality 414 introduced in FIG. 4.) The server-side testing module 5716 may monitor the response(s) it receives from each test user device, including whether a response was received at all, and/or various performance metrics associated with response, and so forth. The server-side testing module 5716 and/or a human administrator may review the results to help diagnose performance issues within the system 200.

FIG. 58 shows a procedure 5802 which formalizes the operation of the testing modules (5716, 414) in flowchart form.

In block 5802, the server-side test module 5716 may determine whether it is time to test the system 200.

In block 5804, if it is time to test, the server-side testing module 5804 may send test probes to one or more test devices.

In block 5806, the server-side testing module 5806 may identify whether it has received a response from the test user devices, and if so, the nature of the response.

C.3. Illustrative Upgrade-Related Functionality

Returning to FIG. 57, this figure illustrates that the IPS 102 includes a server-side upgrade module 5720. The user device 104 includes a complementary device-side upgrade module 418 (which was introduced in the context of FIG. 4). By way of overview, in one case, server-side upgrade module 5720 may be manually operated to push an upgrade or other information down to the user device 104, whereupon the device-side upgrade module 418 loads the identified upgrade or other information in an appropriate manner. In a second case, the server-side upgrade module 5720 may automatically receive version information from the user device (supplied by the device-side upgrade module 418). The server-side upgrade module 5720 may compare the received version information with the current version of the software. The server-side upgrade module 5720 may then initiate any upgrades that may be appropriate, e.g., by downloading a patch or a full version of the desired instruction-bearing item to bring the user device up-to-date.

FIG. 59 shows a procedure 5900 which depicts a manual mode of providing updates to the user device 104.

In block 5902, an administrator associated with the IPS 102 identifies an upgrade to be made to the user device 104.

In block 5904, the server-side upgrade module 5720 may send the upgrade down to the user device, whereupon the device-side upgrade module 418 incorporates the upgrade into its body of instructions. The updating operation is transparent in the sense that the end-user is optionally not asked to participate in the updating operation, and may not be aware of the updating operation.

FIG. 60 shows a procedure 6000 which depicts an automated mode of providing updates to the user device 104.

In block 6002, the server-side upgrade module 5720 may receive information regarding a current version of instructions that is being used by a user device.

In operation 6604, the server-side upgrade module 5720 may compare the device's version with the current versions of the instructions.

In operation 6606, the server-side upgrade module 5720 may automatically prepare an upgrade for use by the user device, e.g., by computing a delta file that expresses the difference between the current version of the instructions and the device's version of the instructions. The upgrade module 5720 may transfer the upgrade to the user device 104 either as a patch or as a full file. The device-side upgrade module 418 receives the upgrade and takes action to incorporate the upgrade. Again, the updating operation is transparent in the sense that the end-user is not asked to participate in the updating operation, and may not be aware of the updating operation.

FIG. 61 shows an exemplary communication package used by the system 200 to transfer updates of any type to the user device 104. The package includes a header 6102 and a body 6104. The header 6102 may include fields that convey version information, attribute information, checksum information, and so forth. The body 6104 may include a manifest, and/or instruction-bearing content (script content, program content, etc.), and/or media content, and/or other type of content. The body may be expressed as a tar file or by using some other format or combination of formats. The information expressed by the package may be scrambled together with random information to help prevent non-authorized individuals from accessing the information.

The package serves as a general-purpose container for communicating any type of information to the user device 104 to elicit any type of behavior from the user device 104. In one case, an administrator may use the package shown in FIG. 61 to download an instruction-bearing item to a user device 104. The device 104 responds by loading this item into its memory; the device 104 thereafter operates based on the program instructions provided in the item.

In another case, the administrator may use the package shown in FIG. 61 to download other types of content to the user device 104, such as any kind of message content that is displayed by the user device 104. For instance, the downloaded content may pertain to a message that the user device 104 is instructed to display in a power-off mode (e.g., in the case that the user device uses non-volatile display technology that may present information on a display in a power-off mode of operation). To provide this message, the package may include a bit map which provides the desired message and optionally script content which directs the user device 104 how to display the message. Other applications are possible.

D. Illustrative Provisioning Functionality

D.1. Overview of Provisioning Functionality

FIG. 62 shows a system 6200 for provisioning new user devices. More specifically, the system 6200 includes provisioning functionality 6202 that interacts with a newly manufactured user device 6204 (or component thereof), e.g., at a factory or like environment. The new user device 6204 may include a provisioning module 6206. The device-side provisioning module 6206 receives temporary contact information 6208 from the provisioning functionality 6202, which may include one or more identification numbers. The provisioning functionality 6202 may also interact with communication infrastructure 6210 to provide the communication infrastructure 6210 with provisioning information 6212. The provisioning information 6212 relates to the temporary contact information 6208 stored by the user device 6204.

As illustrated in FIG. 62, the user device 6206 may use the temporary contact information 6208 to establish a first access to the communication infrastructure 6210. The communication infrastructure 6210 may then forward more permanent contact information 6214 to the user device 6204. The user device 6204 may thereafter uses the more permanent contact information 6214 to access the IPS 102 and other network-accessible resources. The provisioning approach allows the user to use the user device 6204 without performing complex and burdensome configuration operations.

Addition details regarding one illustrative manner of provisioning user devices is described in U.S. Ser. No. 11/277,876, filed on Mar. 29, 2006, entitled “Over-the-air Device Provisioning and Activation,” naming the inventors of Subram Narasimhan, et al.

D.2. Illustrative Virtual Account Processing

FIG. 63 illustrates a procedure 6300 for allowing a user to purchase items (or more generally, acquire items) immediately after the user purchases a user device 104. This procedure 6300 may be performed at least in part by the virtual account module 3816 of FIG. 38.

In block 6302, a purchasing system receives the user's purchase of a new user device.

In block 6304, the purchasing system or some other module may establish a virtual account for the user. The virtual account is established before a user device is even assigned to the user.

In block 6306, the purchasing system receives one or more item purchases made the user. The purchasing system associates these purchases with the virtual account created in block 6304.

In block 6308, when a user device is assigned to the user, the purchasing system or some other module may associate the virtual account with the assigned user device. This linking operation allows the user to use his or her new user device to receive and consume the items that were applied to the virtual account.

D.3. Illustrative Initial Testing

FIG. 64 shows an approach to testing a new user device 6402, referred to, in this context, as a device under test (DUT). For instance, the approach may be used to test the device in a factory or in some other stage of production.

By way of introduction, the user device 6402 may include a preferred roaming list (PRL) 6404 and a most recent used (MRU) table 6406. The PRL 6404 includes a list of target frequencies that that the user device may investigate in order to establish communication with a communication station or the like. The MRU table 6406 identifies the frequency that the user device 104 most recently used to gain access to a communication station.

FIG. 64 also shows test equipment 6408. The test equipment 6408 is used, in part, to test the ability of the user device 6402 to establish communication with a communication station. The test equipment 6408 may use a test channel 6410 to establish communication with the user device 6402 for the purpose of performing a test.

To expedite the testing, the approach illustrated in FIG. 64 programs the MRU table of the user device 6406 so that it stores information that identifies the test channel 6410 of the test equipment 6408. This allows the user device 6402 to quickly establish contact with the test equipment 6408, that is, by avoiding the need for the user device 6402 to hunt for a frequency with which to communicate with the test equipment 6408.

As a further feature, the testing approach does not require storing a test PRL in the PRL table, and then, after the test, replacing the test PRL 6404 with an actual PRL 6404 to be used in the field. That is, in the present approach, the PRL 6404 may maintain an actual PRL information throughout the testing operation.

FIG. 65 shows a procedure 6500 for implementing the above-described testing approach.

In block 6502, the MRU table 6406 stores information which identifies the test channel 6410 of the test equipment 6408.

In block 6504, the user device 6402 and the test equipment 6408 perform the test. In conducting the test, the user device 6402 does need to hunt for the channel of the test equipment 6408 because the appropriate access information is already stored it its MRU table 6406.

In closing, although the invention has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claimed invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing an item to a user who has purchased a user device but has not yet been assigned a particular user device, comprising: under control of one or more computing devices configured with computer-executable instructions, receiving, by the one or more computing devices, the user's purchase of a user device; establishing a virtual account associated with the user prior to assigning a particular user device to the user; receiving a purchase of an item by the user; adding an entry associated with the purchase of the item to the virtual account, the virtual account not yet being associated with a particular user device; assigning the user device to the user; and upon assigning the user device to the user, associating the virtual account with the assigned user device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user purchases the user device from a network-accessible merchant of users devices.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user purchases the item from a network-accessible merchant of items.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is a media item.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device is a book reader device, and the item is a media item.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the user's request to download the purchased item using the assigned device, and in response, sending the purchased item to the assigned user device.
 7. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media containing machine-readable instructions when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the steps of: receiving, a user's purchase of a user device; establishing a virtual account associated with a user prior to assigning a particular user device to the user; receiving a purchase of an item by the user; adding an entry associated with the purchase of the item to the virtual account, the virtual account not yet being associated with a particular user device; assigning the user device to the user; and upon assigning the user device to the user, associating the virtual account with the assigned user device.
 8. A system comprising: one or more processors; memory; and an electronic data processing store module, the electronic data processing module comprising: a catalog search and presentation module for allowing a user to identify an item from a catalog of items; and an item purchase module for allowing the user to purchase the identified item after the user identifies the item from the catalog of items, wherein the item purchase module includes a virtual account module that associates the user's purchase of the identified item with a virtual account subsequent to the user purchasing a user device, but before a particular user device has been assigned to the user.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the virtual account module further associates the virtual account with an assigned user device when the user is assigned the user device. 